


Play for Me

by Gummie88



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Orchestra, Band Nerds..., Confessions, Dorks in Love, Dry Humping, Friends to Lovers, Haru plays violin, Hint of ReiGisa, Hotel Sex, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Making Out, Makoto plays cello, Rating Change, Rehearsals, Slow Build, Strangers to Friends, Traveling Together, orchestra AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2018-11-07 04:44:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 56,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11051598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gummie88/pseuds/Gummie88
Summary: Haruka Nanase is a violinist residing in Iwatobi, and he's unsure of his next move.Graduated from high school with no further plan, he joins a summer orchestra program close to home to pass the time. He expects to spend the summer with himself, attending rehearsals, performing, and swimming. Though he meets a cellist named Makoto Tachibana and suddenly he's not sure of that plan anymore. Haru and Makoto start practicing together and Haru finds himself not only thinking about Makoto, but spending a lot of time with him as well...And God, thatsmile...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! 
> 
> This fic wasn't meant to be the length that it is, but I'm pretty excited about it. I haven't been this excited or passionate to write a fic in a long time and I hope I can follow through with this one!
> 
> I've been involved with band/music my whole life and applying it to a fanfic has been really fun. I think I remember seeing a violinist!Haru and Cellist!Makoto fanfic prompt on Tumblr a long long time ago which helped me think of this. Unfortunately I can't find the OP, so if anyone knows of the post I'm talking about then let me know! I don't think I took any ideas from them besides what instruments Makoto and Haru play haha. 
> 
> Anyway, I do want this to be a slow build fic, but I'm not sure of the expected length yet (I have to organize all my ideas out soon haha). But yeah, I hope you guys enjoy! Comments and kudos are EXTREMELY appreciated, they motivate me to write more and write faster <3
> 
> (Also this is my first MakoHaru fic EVER, so hopefully with time I can get a better grasp on their characters. Thanks in advance for the patience!)

Haru wakes up before his alarm, lying spread out on his back with the blankets half kicked off onto the floor. Despite the early hour of the morning, the sunrise is bright and filters through Haru’s blinds, settling on his face (much to his annoyance). He squints against the light, head still foggy from sleep as he slowly regains consciousness. The fact that he woke up earlier than necessary left him feeling instantly irritated, though grateful in a way. It’s the beginning of summer, which in Iwatobi means extreme heat and even more miserable humidity. Due to the lack of air conditioning in Haru’s home, the night was mostly spent tossing and turning because the bed under him felt like a furnace while the deafening sound of crickets droned on all night. Even though Haru has endured every summer of his life in these conditions, the slight anxiety of the day to come just really took the cake when it came to a horrible night’s sleep.

Haru sits up in bed, causing the rest of the blanket to fall to the floor. He momentarily disregards it, instead trying to run one of his hands through his hair. This proves to be more difficult than usual because of his restlessness during the night and he frowns when his fingers almost immediately get stuck in the tangles. He could manage to get a brush through it, but since he woke up earlier he figured he had enough time to take a bath before leaving. He needs a good wash to get rid of the clammy feeling on his skin. He swings his legs over the side of the bed and stands, his bare feet padding against the cool hardwood as he makes his way to the bathroom. As he’s running a bath, he knows this will help him be in a better mood to take on the day. While this particular bath isn’t as long as the ones he normally takes, he still enjoys being submerged in the water, letting his mind wander. Once it’s time to get out, it feels like some of his anxiety washed down the drain with the water, much to his relief. He towels off quickly and gets dressed, figuring he could use the remaining time to make himself breakfast. He eats alone in the living room, sitting on the tatami mats and watching the sun rise through the open doors. He chews slowly and listens to the birds chirping. It’s pretty nice, Haru thinks to himself, and remembers why he doesn’t mind being up early.

With the sun finally up, the room is illuminated by natural light, and the many trophies and plaques around the room are doused in golden light. Some lay in boxes, collecting dust, while others are displayed in an unorganized manner on shelves. Only the plaques seem to be put up in a neat manner since they were hung up by his parents. All the awards are addressed to Haru and his achievements in playing violin. He has even more trophies in his room and those are the ones that he’s the most proud of. While they still tend to collect dust on the shelves there too, he likes having them in a place where he spends most of his time. The awards are from throughout his entire life, starting from when he was around five or six (Haru can’t really remember, honestly) when his parents encouraged him to start playing. Most of the awards were from local contests in Iwatobi, some are from surrounding small towns, and the most impressive being the ones he won in Tokyo a couple years ago. Those are the ones he keeps close.

He finishes his breakfast and cleans up. He stops by his room and picks up his violin (in its case) next to the bed along with a worn folder full of sheet music. He pats his pockets and double checks that he has his phone before leaving the house.

-

While walking through the narrows streets of Iwatobi, Haru takes out his phone to check his email, holding his folder under his arm so he can have a free hand. He doesn’t have any new emails, but he does read through ones that were sent awhile ago and relevant to today. A few months ago Haru auditioned for an orchestra that would be traveling Japan after a couple weeks of practice in Iwatobi. He had no doubt that he would make it, and not because he’s necessarily arrogant, more based on the fact that the program wasn’t anything really elite. The camp and tour were going to take up most of the summer, and Haru just thought it would be a better use of his time than just sitting around at home or swimming all day (even though both options are definitely tempting). After graduating from high school, Haru feels like he needs a productive distraction from the daunting thought of his future, which still remains unplanned and a mystery. On the email, he double checks the address to make sure he’s going the right way and pockets his phone once again.

The location is a bit far, but Haru doesn’t mind the walk. It gives him an opportunity to walk along the beach for longer than usual. On his walk, he stares out over the water and admires the sound of the tide and the ocean breeze going through his hair. Summer brought heat, sure, but it also gave Haru time to swim in the ocean once again, something he plans on doing soon once he has free time. Since school is out, the sidewalks are less cluttered because all the students are at home rather than walking to school. This allows him to enjoy the view more without the fear of bumping into people.

After about ten more minutes of walking, he finally arrives at what appears to be an elementary school. He’s a little early and therefore doesn’t see any other band members yet. He makes his way inside and quickly confirms that it is an elementary school based on the bright posters and children’s drawings decorating the walls. It’s been a long time since Haru’s been in this kind of environment, and for a minute he feels a little bit of nostalgia for his elementary school days. From the entrance, Haru follows the signs and directions to the band room. He climbs the stairs to the second floor and finally starts to see some other people. One passes right by him and down the stairs, and then he spots a group of girls standing in the hall and chatting. They’re actually standing outside of the band room, so Haru starts walking towards them, ready to put down his instrument (which has started to make his arm a little sore from carrying it for so long). The group of girls talk and laugh softly, not wanting to be too loud in the empty hall. He walks past them and into the room. His immediate reaction is that the room is a lot bigger than he expected for an elementary school music room. It even had a few practice rooms branching off from the main room. Maybe this was a high school at some point that got converted to an elementary school? The presence of practice rooms makes Haru feel a bit better about this whole experience since he’s the type to isolate himself in a quieter room to practice, rather than in the middle of the orchestra. There are rows of chairs arranged in a horseshoe shape and a director’s podium positioned in the middle. The director seems to be out of the room at the moment though, probably making some last minute preparations.  While Haru could see why some would think the use of an elementary school for practice would be strange, he’s been doing these events long enough to know that it’s actually not that uncommon. It’s pretty hard to find an open space for daily rehearsals, especially in the summer. Haru can only recall a couple times when daily rehearsals took place in an actual auditorium.

He properly enters the room, scanning the seats to find the one with his name on it. He’s surprised to see that he’s assigned first violin, which is the first chair in the front row. There was already a stand placed in front of his chair with a folder full of music. He sits down and places his own folder next to the one provided. It looks beat to hell next to the new one, but that’s to be expected from carrying it around for years.

At this point, more people are starting to trickle in. Around him begins the sounds of cases opening, people talking, and tuning notes being played on instruments. To a lot of people it may sound like chaos, but to Haru and others who grew up in this environment, it’s a comfortable white noise. Haru’s body feels like it’s on autopilot as he carefully removes his violin and the bow from its case. He assumes the familiar position of pressing the instrument under his jawline as he begins to glide the bow across the strings to tune. He makes a face at how extremely sharp the violin sounds, probably due to the heat making the strings expand. He takes a few minutes to keep tuning and finally, after a lot of adjustments, it sounds in tune and ready to be played.

He has a quick look through his music as the last of the band finally settles in. He feels satisfied with his music, appreciating that the solo parts are a bit difficult, but the rest seems very doable compared to some music he’s played before. There was once a time when he would literally spend entire days isolated in his room to practice. His fingers would be so calloused and sore he hardly felt them anymore. So, having a very easygoing orchestra experience this time around is welcomed.

Finally, a tall woman walks in and, by her dress and age, Haru knows she’s the director. The room goes quiet once she steps on the podium, and their rehearsal begins.

-

For the most part, the day is very uneventful until their lunch break. Haru likes their conductor, admiring her sweet but take-no-shit attitude. While Haru had been aware that this group isn’t supposed to be the best in Japan by far, they sound better than he was originally expecting. It was obvious that there were a lot of talented players in the orchestra. It was pretty great when considering that the room was mostly filled with band kids who were just trying to keep their summers busy. Like Haru observed earlier, the music so far hasn’t proved to be that difficult, but it’s obvious they have a lot of rehearsing to do to get it up to the director’s standards. She was the type to stop them every three bars to address an issue. This annoyed some of the students, but Haru likes when directors stop and correct something that needs to be corrected.

When noon finally rolled around, the band was more than ready to take a break. When dismissed, there were a lot of sighs of relief and shuffling as instruments and music are set aside. Conversations begin to fill the room and it was obvious that new friendships were being made in the various sections. Haru has always been extremely quiet and has never really been into the social aspect of all this, which would sometimes make him come off as stand-offish to the other violinists in the past. However, he actually didn’t mind playing next to the second violinist. He has blue hair and bright red glasses (which is a weird clash of color, Haru thinks, but it works in a way). His section usually never bothers to talk to him, so it’s a complete surprise when the guy strikes up a conversation when everyone is dismissed.

“H-Hello…” He says after turning to Haru. Apparently he didn’t mean to stutter by the way he immediately adjusts his glasses nervously.

Haru looks up from putting his instrument away, almost convinced that he was just hearing things. “Hey.” He answers after a second of hesitation.

“I’m Rei Ryugazaki, nice to meet you.” The blue-haired guy says, extending his hand for a shake. Haru stares at it for a second before reaching out to shake his hand, still slightly thrown off by this interaction. While his face still remains pretty emotionless, his lack of words must give away his bewilderment to Rei. He awkwardly clears his throat. “Um, I just wanted to say that you’re an incredible violinist, from what I’ve heard so far. What’s your name, if I may ask?”

This guy’s formality should be annoying Haru, but it just seems so genuine and harmless that he can’t bring himself to feel anything towards it. “Haruka Nanase. And thank you.” He remembers to add.

Rei’s eyes widen just a bit and it looks like he’s going to say something else, but he closes his mouth quickly and offers a kind smile instead. “You’re welcome, I look forward to playing with you.”

Haru doesn’t smile back, instead nodding towards Rei. “You too.” He says before finally finishing putting his instrument away. Haru discreetly watches Rei get up and meet up with a short blond guy waiting at the door for him. The blond guy smiles brightly and practically jumps on Rei in a crushing hug. Haru raises an eyebrow at the action, not expecting Rei to be around energetic people like that. Did that guy even play in the band? Haru didn’t see him earlier, weird…

As more people leave, it suddenly dawns on Haru that he’d forgotten to bring a lunch for himself. He purses his lips in annoyance. He has so much time to prepare one this morning and yet he completely forgot. Typical. He sighs through his nose, still getting up to follow the crowd into the hall. He leans against the wall and wonders what he should do. Should he go out and get something? It’s tempting, but he doesn’t know this area of Iwatobi very well and they have a pretty small time frame for him to go wandering around aimlessly. He could just skip lunch altogether and take the time to practice? Tempting, though the music isn’t that difficult and they still have another four hours of rehearsal after lunch, and he’d just be exhausted if he played that long without a break.

Out of curiosity, he rummages through his pockets, and sure enough he finds some spare change that got shoved in there who knows how long ago. He pulls the change out and counts it, having just enough for a drink and maybe a snack from a vending machine. There has to be a machine around somewhere, maybe in a teacher’s lounge? Pushing off from the wall, he leaves the crowd of people and makes his way down the stairs. He descends to the first floor and starts looking around for a teacher’s lounge (or anywhere else he would find vending machines). He spots a lounge after walking down the hall and sure enough he can see a couple machines through the window on the door. He’s relieved to find out the door is unlocked and he quietly slips inside. He stares at his options, nothing jumping out as really appealing, but he’s hungry enough that he’ll eat pretty much anything. He decides that a drink and chips will be a suitable snack to tide him over, and he starts to put his money into the machine.

When doing so, a coin accidentally slips from his grip and it tumbles to the ground with a few clinks. Haru curses under his breath, following the coin with his eyes as it rolls away from him. Just when he bends down to snatch it up, he jumps back in surprise when another hand beats him to it, reaching down and grabbing it instead. He follows up the strangers arm to see their face, standing back up as he does so.

“Here you go.” A male voice says, holding out his hand for Haru to take the change he dropped. Haru doesn’t move, staring at the guy in front of him. He’s almost a head taller than him and he has a soft, but genuine smile. His eyes droop down slightly, and that combined with the smile helps him give off this completely harmless vibe, despite his height and built frame. His sandy colored hair falls into his eyes in a nice way… maybe in a perfect way, if Haru is willing to admit that.

Haru must have accidentally been staring for a couple seconds too long because the guy’s smile starts to falter, and thankfully Haru snaps back to reality. He breaks his gaze away, accepting the money. “Thank you…” He says.

The tall guy nods, his smile coming back easily. “No problem.”

For some reason, Haru feels like he has to say something else, but he doesn’t. He turns back around and properly puts the money into the machine this time. He’s suddenly very aware of the other’s presence in the room, making him feel a little on edge. Thankfully he’s standing far enough back that Haru doesn’t feel TOO crowded.

After he enters the last coin that was picked up for him, it wouldn’t let him select his drink. He frowns in confusion, digging into his pockets once again. Did he not count the money right? Shit… His stomach drops slightly from the realization. He’s just short of what he needs. Not trying to panic, he stands still, letting out another sigh through his nose.

“Something wrong…?” A voice from behind asks, startling Haru.

He looks back at the guy behind him who’s now looking at him curiously. “Just… counted my change wrong.” He admits, keeping a straight face despite his face heating up from embarrassment. As soon as he says that, the other starts digging in his own pockets. Haru immediately knows what he’s doing and he quickly protests, “You don’t have to do that – “

“It’s no problem! Here.” The taller interrupts and holds out his own money for Haru to take this time. “I brought plenty of money with me, so don’t worry about it.”

Haru shifts his stare back and forth from the money held out for him and that smile. The other doesn’t back down, waiting patiently for Haru to accept it. Haru hates taking money from people, especially strangers. He’s tempted to be stubborn and just let him take his purchase, though that would probably come off ruder than just accepting the pocket change. He finally takes it, avoiding looking at his face. “Sorry. Thank you again, though.”

The guy beams, like giving Haru his pocket change was the highlight of his day. With the correct amount of money this time, Haru finally ( _finally_ ) gets his drink. He retrieves it once it drops into the pick-up tray.

“You’re first violin, right?”

Haru turns around, shifting the drink and chips to be held more comfortably before addressing his question. “Yeah…” He answers, stepping aside so the other can finally get to the machine.

“I can hear you really well from where I sit, you sound amazing~”

Haru isn’t sure how to respond. Usually when he plays in an orchestra, people aren’t so ready to talk to him, especially give out compliments. Having this occur twice in one day is really throwing him off. “Thank you.” He feels like he’s saying that a lot today.

“No problem.” The other says once again, that smile never leaving his face. “It’s Haruka, right?”

Haru furrows his brows together, not remembering giving this guy his name at any point. He must have accidentally made a sour face because the taller starts to quickly stutter out a sentence. “I-I wasn’t asking around about you or anything! My friend Rei is actually the second violinist. He told me that he recognized your name, something about participating in competitions with you in the past? He actually seemed a little starstruck after he talked to you. Apparently he’s looked up to you for a few years and never expected he’d be in the same orchestra as you.” He explains, laughing a little. It sounds warm and genuine, like his smile.

Haru relaxes and nods once again; not realizing he also knew Rei. “ Yeah, we must have been in some local competitions together.” Though he doesn’t remember Rei’s name, which makes him feel kind of bad, but he was always too distracted at competitions to pay much attention to his competitors anyway.

The taller selects his drink and retrieves it from the machine. “Well, it was nice meeting you Haruka.”

“Haru.” He says quickly.

The guy pauses. “I’m sorry, what?”

Haru mentally kicks himself and swallows a lump in his throat. Once again, he avoids the other’s gaze. “C-Call me Haru.” He clarifies, discreetly gripping his drink tighter. He barely knows this guy and yet he just asked him to call him by his preferred name. He usually doesn’t care that much to let people know that unless he was really close to them. He also stuttered, which only adds to his embarrassment. What’s with this guy? Their interaction hasn’t been much different from the one with Rei, but Haru feels a lot more… flustered.

"Oh, okay!" Thankfully the taller doesn’t notice Haru’s inner turnmoil. “I’m Makoto, by the way. Makoto Tachibana. I’d shake your hand, but both of us have our hands full...” He says, referring to the both of them holding drinks and snacks in their arms. He laughs once Haru nods in agreement. “Well, I better get back to my friends since they’re waiting for me. I’ll see you around…?” He asks Haru, already making his way towards the door but slow enough to hear Haru’s response.

“Yeah, sure… Bye, Makoto.”

With one more smile, Makoto walks away, leaving Haru dazed in the lounge. His pulse feels a bit quicker than usual after talking to Makoto, which is really uncharacteristic of him. Even though they said they’d see each other around, he can’t help but wonder if that was the first and last time they’d ever talk again. He didn’t even ask what instrument he played.

He slowly gets his mind back on track, finally following after Makoto so that he can finish his snacks before the band’s lunch break comes to an end.

-

Once the break is over, they all start filing back into the band room. Haru enters and finds himself doing a quick scan of the room to see if he can spot Makoto. It takes a second to see through the crowd, though he eventually does, seeing him take his seat across from him. How did he not notice him earlier? And he plays cello? Interesting... He tries not to stare, and instead sits down, once again removing his violin from the case. He tunes and plays through a couple sheets of his favorite music he has stored in his folder as a warm up for the afternoon’s rehearsal. Right before they start, Rei finally sits down next to Haru. He wonders if Makoto told Rei about their interaction and if he would bring it up. He didn’t, instead just taking out his own violin and offering Haru a kind smile before he starts on his own warm ups. Finally, their director enters and they begin their final stretch of rehearsals for the day.

-

The next few hours drag. They get a couple ten minute breaks, which are greatly appreciated to stretch out their legs and have a much needed drink of water. Other than that, they were extremely focused on sight reading.

Once they’re dismissed, Haru quietly packs up. He can already hear some complaining about the long rehearsal hours and he wonders if they do realize they have two more weeks of daily rehearsals (though they do get the weekends off). He slips out of the room, not wanting to deal with the crowd (even if he does kind of want to see Makoto again). He walks out through the entrance he came in and is struck by a wave of heat and humidity as he leaves the air-conditioned building. For a second it feels suffocating. Their rehearsals end at three, which means Haru has to walk home in the hottest part of the day. He gets going, still looking out over the ocean as he walks, now watching kids and teenagers splash around on the water and sunbathe on the sand. Though despite usually letting his mind go blank as he stares out at the water, he can’t stop thinking about Makoto. While he hates to admit it to himself, Makoto was very attractive. Usually Haru tends to not pay attention to that much, but Makoto had a certain aesthetic and vibe that was kind of captivating. Something about his sandy (almost olive) colored hair and bright green eyes contrasted so nicely against his tan skin and the red plaid shirt he had been wearing. Haru starts to wonder what he’d look like in his best suit at performances…

His face gets warm once again and he shakes his head, trying to clear his thoughts.

By the time he gets home, he’s uncomfortably sticky. Discarding his shoes by the door, he puts away his instrument and folder in his room before relaxing for the day. Trying to escape the heat, he plugs in a small fan in the living room and has it blow directly on him while he plays some video games. It keeps him occupied for most of the day and eventually the sound of the cicadas outside melt into the sound of crickets as afternoon turns to evening/night. He makes himself a big dinner to make up for the lack of lunch and soon the long day was starting to catch up with him. He yawns, stripping out of his clothes and deciding to sleep in just his boxers tonight, hoping that would help him sleep better. Usually it takes a while for Haru to fall asleep, yet his eyelids feel heavy as soon as his head hits the pillow. He vaguely remembers thinking of Makoto’s smile and the way it reached his eyes before drifting off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on [Tumblr](http://nagi-chan-san.tumblr.com/)?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah!! I got around to writing the next chapter!! I just started writing and couldn't stop!! Lol
> 
> But yes, here it is! I think I like how this one turned out. I wanted to give yall a little sneak peek into Makoto's point of view (cause honestly I've always been a sucker for all the Tachibana's and how cute their family is) :3c
> 
> Okay so, I know most of you probably aren't very musical (let alone specialize in string instruments) but I just wanted to put a disclaimer that I do not play any string instruments and have little experience with them. I did research to the best of my ability and I'm sorry if I have Haru or Makoto play some pieces that seem way out of their league. Honestly I don't know very many orchestra or string instrument songs so I just kind of have to stick with the most popular pieces, which are usually the ones that are the most difficult. But yeah, just wanted to throw that out there so you don't take Haru or Makoto's skill levels too seriously since I'm not experienced with string instruments. Just know that they are very talented for their age (Haru a little more so than Makoto), but they are by no means prodigies. 
> 
> Okay sorry for the long note, please enjoy! Comments and kudos are EXTREMELY appreciated!

Slowly, Makoto begins to stir from his deep sleep, the distant sound of dishes and pans clinking together waking him up. The smell of breakfast slowly wafts through the house and into his room, only encouraging him to not fall back asleep. Too comfortable to move immediately, he lets himself enjoy a couple more minutes of rest, his eyes closed but not actually asleep. If he tried hard enough, he could probably drift off again, but the smell of bacon made his stomach growl and suddenly he was more than ready to be awake. He sits up, yawning and stretching his arms over his head. He grabs his phone from his bedside table and unplugs it, checking the time and any other notifications he may have. When seeing the time, he frowns a little, not thinking it was that early. He gets up and doesn't bother to get dressed just yet and instead walks out of his room quietly to go to the kitchen.

Now in the room, the smell of food is even stronger and the sizzling bacon in the pan makes his mouth water. His mother, still in her pajamas, hasn’t noticed him yet and she continues to move about the kitchen swiftly while she prepares breakfast.

“Good morning.” Makoto says, pulling out a chair from the table to sit on.

His mother turns around, immediately smiling at the presence of her son in the room. “Good morning, Mako.”

Makoto, while still sleepy, smiles warmly in response. “What are you doing up so early? Ren and Ran are on summer vacation, they don’t have to get up for school.” He reminds her, slouching in his chair and resting his arms on the table.

She hums in acknowledgment as she cracks some eggs into another pan. “I know, I just knew that you were going to practice and I wanted to make sure you got a good breakfast before heading off.” She says.

Suddenly, Makoto’s chest aches a little. “Mom, you don’t have to do that, you could’ve slept in.”

“Nonsense, Makoto! I want to!” She insists, once again smiling brightly at him over her shoulder. “Besides,” She continues, turning back around. “Soon I won’t be able to cook you breakfast in the mornings, once you go off to Tokyo…” Her smile falters a bit, the thought making her sad.

Makoto senses the shift in tone in the room and sighs quietly, rubbing the back of his head absentmindedly (which only makes his bedhead worse). “I’m still going to visit as often as I can, and you still have all summer with me.” He assures her, “I just don’t want you to get up early and tire yourself out for me when you don’t have to.”

“I understand… but I’m still going to do it.” She adds after a second and laughs quietly.

Makoto can’t help but smile, knowing that whatever he said she was going to do whatever she wanted for him, that’s just how his mom’s always been. She’s extremely loving to Makoto and the twins, doing whatever she can for them.

“Why don’t you go get ready? Breakfast will be done by the time you’re finished.” She tells him.

He nods, getting up and exiting the kitchen and making his way back to his room. Having showered the night before, he gets dressed, fixes his hair, and brushes his teeth. Yesterday he greatly underestimated how hot it was going to be and about had a heat stroke in the red flannel he wore. So today, he made sure to wear shorts and a shirt that was made of much lighter material. Soon enough he’s ready, also making sure he has his phone and wallet before walking back into the kitchen. When he walks in, he’s surprised to see Ran sitting in the seat he was in just moments ago, still looking almost completely asleep as she rubs at her eyes tiredly. “Ran? What are you doing up so early?” He asks, smiling in amusement as he takes the chair opposite of her.

“Hungry… Want food…” She says, a huge yawn taking over her body after saying so.

He laughs and shares a knowing look with his mother, who’s also smiling in amusement. “If Ran’s awake it’s only a matter of time before Ren walks in – “

“Breakfast…?” A voice asks, just loud enough to be heard from the hallway before Makoto’s little brother enters the room, also appearing drowsy and hair sticking up in every direction from sleeping.

The other three laugh, leaving Ren confused. He obviously doesn't mind very much because he doesn't say anything, instead sitting down by his brother. Makoto didn’t expect to be eating breakfast with his family that morning since yesterday he just quietly slipped out of the house before anyone woke up. It was nice and it made him feel like he was still in high school where this was an everyday occurrence. He knew that the smell of food wouldn’t be able to lure the twins out of their rooms so early for long, so he appreciated their bickering and stories while he could. He ate rather quickly, not realizing how hungry he was until he was done with his second plate before his mom even finished her first.

He checks the time, getting up from his chair. “I guess I better get going.” He announces.

“Now? Isn’t it still a little early?” His mom asks.

“Yeah, but since my cello is in our rehearsal room I thought I might as well just go in early and get some practicing in.” Being a cellist means not having the privilege of bringing your instrument home every night like a lot of other instrumentalists in the orchestra. Thankfully they’re allowed to leave their cellos in the room, which is locked and secured over night to make sure they’re safe. “Do you want me to help you clean up?”

She shakes her head. “No no go ahead, I’ll have Ren and Ran help me.” After mentioning the twins in the same sentence as housework, they both groan, but his mom doesn’t acknowledge them and Makoto laughs.

“Okay, I’ll see you later then.” As he approaches the door, they all call out goodbyes to him before he finally leaves the house into the morning heat.

-

Haru’s restless.

Despite sleeping better than the night before, he still wakes up at an ungodly hour. Something about early morning practices makes it hard for him to sleep in in the mornings. Instead he always has just a slight bit of anxiety nagging at him; probably because he just wants to do everything he can to not be late. He’s been late to a couple rehearsals before and he’d really rather not relive those memories again. While those were rehearsals were for a much more elite orchestra, the humiliation of being chewed out by the director was too embarrassing to ever risk again.

He sits in his living room, the TV on low volume in the background as he eats. While still humid and miserable, a slight breeze tells Haru that it may not be as hot as yesterday, which is definitely welcomed.

Still having time to kill, Haru gives up, deciding to just go ahead and walk to the school and kill the time by practicing. Might as well walk there now while it’s cooler than wait for the heat to catch up and leave him a sweaty mess by the time he gets there. Grabbing his instrument and folder, he’s out the door and on his way.

-

As to be expected, there’s no one in the school yet. It’s actually kind of eerie for the school to be so bright and ready for students to only be met with empty halls and a low hum of electricity in the air. Haru climbs up the stairs, still trying to familiarize himself with the environment as he follows his memory to the band room.

Once at the top of the stairs, he can hear someone playing. It’s still faint since it’s coming from behind the closed doors, but there’s no mistaking the sound of someone practicing. Haru listens closely and it’s… a cello? Haru won’t lie, knowing that someone else also had the same idea as him made him a little hesitant to go inside, but the assurance of isolation in one of the practice rooms made him feel a little better. Trying to be as quiet as possible, he opens one of the doors and slips inside, letting it click shut softly behind him.

The sound of the cello is loud and clear now, the acoustics of the room helping the rich sound go through the air. They didn’t seem to notice that Haru even came into the room, and when he sees just who’s in the middle of the room playing, he freezes.

Makoto, the guy he ran into the day before by the vending machines, was sitting in the middle of the room playing his cello, looking extremely focused. His bow moves back and forth across the strings swiftly, his fingers moving just as fast, his eyes glued to the sheet music in front of him. The [tune](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCicM6i59_I) was immediately recognizable, being an very famous cello piece. Makoto was playing it a little under tempo, and it was by no means perfect, but just the tone and volume he kept as he played was stunning. Haru’s mouth goes a little dry, and he swallows.

Eventually, the music evaded Makoto and his hands stopped their movements. He sighs, frowning in frustration as he squints at his music, almost as if trying to challenge it.

“Bach Cello Suite No. 1?” Haru asks in a sudden bout of confidence.

Makoto nearly jumps out of his skin, making a high pitched noise that Haru didn’t even think could come out of him. It makes Haru startle slightly too, and Makoto whips his head around to see him standing by the door. Haru doesn’t move, wishing he just kept quiet and slipped past the other into a practice room.

When Makoto recognizes who it is, his body relaxes, though he places a hand on his chest and pants slightly. “God, you scared me…”

“Sorry…” Haru responds, actually wanting to hold back a laugh at what he just witnessed. Seeing a tall, built guy like Makoto nearly drop his cello from being startled was pretty funny.

“It’s fine, I just didn’t hear you come in.” He clears his throat awkwardly, resting the neck of his instrument carefully on his shoulder so he didn’t have to hold it up with his hand. “But, uh, yeah, that was Bach’s Cello Suite…”

“It sounded great.” Haru says sincerely, starting to move towards Makoto, though a bit hesitantly.

“Really? Th-Thank you, though I’ve actually started to lose hope that I’ll ever be able to get it right.” The taller says humbly, looking back at his music.

The disappointment in himself was obvious to Haru, and he knew the feeling. He sits down in a chair next to Makoto, placing his case and folder next to him on the ground. “It’s a difficult piece.” He decides to say, because it’s true. Despite being a classic, it’s really tricky, though that’s to be expected from Bach.

“Yeah, it is. I feel like I’ve had it for years and I still can’t even really make it past the prelude.” Makoto tells him and chuckles.

Haru wants to say something else, though hesitates. He should just excuse himself and go into a practice room, like he originally planned, but for some reason he wants to stay with Makoto, wants to hear him play more.

“Can you play the prelude for me, then? I could… I could help you out a bit in spots that are giving you trouble.” He finally says, his voice quiet.

Makoto is surprised as he looks over at the other. That was probably the most words Haru has said to him at once so far, but it’s nice. Ever since he met him in the teacher’s lounge, he was silently hoping they would get the chance to interact again. And now, here they are, but he can’t shake this sense of nervousness that came from being around Haru. Maybe it was just his way of not using many words to communicate, since Makoto is usually around people who do nothing else but talk. It’s different, but not unwelcomed.

Makoto finally begins to process the other’s request in his head, and suddenly he can feel his face getting red. Haru wants Makoto to play for him? Right here? Right now? Makoto is all too aware of Haru’s accomplishments in orchestra and violin, thanks to Rei talking about it nonstop at lunch yesterday. While it’s definitely impressive, it just added a sense of intimidation and pressure to Makoto. He was probably years behind Haru in skill and technique. He’s already embarrassed Haru heard him playing accidentally in the first place.

Haru notices Makoto’s hesitation and looks up at his face and for a second Haru’s deep blue eyes Makoto’s green ones. He glances away almost as soon as it happens. “I understand if you’d rather not. I know it’s nerve racking to play in front of people.”

Makoto laughs, though albeit a bit nervously. “No it’s okay, I’ll give a try. I mean at this point in my life I’ve played in front of people plenty of times before.” He says, bringing the instrument back into a playing position.

He grabs his bow and places his fingers on the fingerboard, his heart racing a million miles a second. He takes a small deep breath, inspecting the music in front of him for a second before beginning to glide his bow across the strings. The cello’s rich sound fills the air around them as Makoto plays, his whole body seeming to move with the [music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCicM6i59_I).

Haru stares, heart beating fast as well. He watches Makoto work the bow and his fingers dance across the strings, and it’s honestly captivating. Haru has heard this cello piece performed many times, even from other string instruments, and each one had been good, but watching someone like Makoto play up close was fascinating. Being familiar enough with the piece, he can tell that Makoto does tend to slow down the tempo to get his fingerings right and there are a couple technical errors here and there, but they’re such minor things that Haru can’t help but be extremely impressed. The most impressive thing, however, was Makoto’s tone and control over his instrument. The crescendos and decrescendos were perfect, just as written in the piece. There were even moments where he added his own shifts in volume or extra vibratos that weren't written in. When people play this piece, Haru has noticed that they tend to just plow through it with reckless abandon, not letting the grace and elegance come through. But with Makoto, it was played so delicately, yet sophisticated, that it gave off a completely different vibe than what Haru has experienced before.

Makoto played most of the prelude, yet there came a point where his fingers faltered in hesitation and he squinted at the music. He made a frustrated grunt, halting his playing completely. “And that’s where I usually start to lose myself, about at the end of the prelude…” He explains and Haru can see that his hands are shaking slightly. Did Haru really make him that nervous?

“It sounds amazing.” He compliments confidently, because it does.

Makoto looks at Haru, his eyes wide. “I… it does?”

“Yes. There are some technical errors, and sometimes you tend to drag the tempo around here,” Haru leans forward and picks up a pencil sitting on Makoto’s stand and circles the exact measure in his music where it happened, “but other than that, it was honestly great.”

Despite Haru’s compliment, Makoto still looks unsure. “Oh, okay…”

Haru purses his lips for a second. He could tell that Makoto was the type to focus on the negatives more than the positives, which is a hard habit to break. Haru was like that once, especially when he was younger. “Makoto, seriously.” He persists, not willing to let this go easily.

“Huh?” The other responds, confused by Haru’s stern tone.

“Your control and technique are amazing. Especially at the beginning and around here,” Once again, Haru circles a few measures with his pencil. “I also liked how you added the vibrato throughout on some notes where it’s not written in, but you used it sparingly, which is nice. You play the dynamics with a lot of control, which is extremely refreshing, especially since I usually tend to hear this piece played as if the person is barreling through it.”

Makoto looks stunned, looking over Haru’s markings and notes he added onto his music (which was already marked up everywhere by him in the past). He just couldn’t believe how passionate the other was about his playing, it really took him off guard. He was expecting Haru to be unimpressed, or at least indifferent.

“… Makoto?” Haru says, breaking the silence and raising an eyebrow at the boy sitting next to him. Why isn’t he saying anything?

“O-Oh, um, w-wow, just… thank you, Haru, that means a lot to me.” Makoto finally manages to say. “I’ll definitely work on the things you marked, though. It’s nice to have someone else listen and give you a second opinion every once awhile.”

“You’re welcome.” Haru answers simply. He reaches down to open his case that lays on the ground, taking out his violin. He brings it up to sit on his lap, looking at the other’s music. “If it’s okay with you, I could actually help you out right now. I came to practice too, but I could warm up with you…”

Makoto blinks at him and after a second, he’s smiling that smile that made turn to jelly yesterday. “I would love that.” Haru nods and brings up his violin, starting to tune it. After a few seconds of listening to Haru tune, Makoto speaks up. “Um, do you have your own copy of this for violin? I only have a copy for cello…”

Haru shakes his head, finishing up his last tuning note. “No, but I can just transpose it.”

“Transpose it? Right here?”

“Yeah…?” Haru asks, not sure why Makoto’s so surprised.

“Um, well, do you need me to get you a piece of paper so you can write it down?”

“No, I’m just going to transpose it while we go along. I’ve transposed so many cello pieces in the past I can do it pretty easily by now. And I’ve actually played this before.”

“O-Oh, uh… Okay, then.” Makoto agrees, exasperated.

Makoto’s expression is priceless, and Haru can’t help himself, he laughs. It’s just a small snicker, his lips pulling up into a smile. He can’t help it really, he just wasn’t expecting Makoto to be absolutely flabbergasted that Haru can transpose music on the spot.

Makoto’s whole body nearly locks up upon seeing Haru smile and laugh. He hasn’t seen Haru smile at all before this and it was honestly so… charming? It was just a little burst of air, not much of a laugh, but the smile was unmistakable since it reached his eyes. It was gone as quick as it came, but it was engraved in Makoto’s memory from now on. Just the fact that he managed to make Haru smile and laugh made Makoto feel so accomplished, probably a lot more than he should feel. From their few interactions and what he’s heard from Rei, Haru isn’t one to express many emotions, or even talk, for that matter. Makoto isn’t sure if he’s just lucky or what, but he managed to see both things from the other today. From the way Haru talked about music, it was obvious it’s something he really enjoys, especially since he’s been more than willing to give advice and compliments. And now he’s offering to play with Makoto? On his own instrument? He feels a bit lightheaded.  

“Okay so, in this measure…”

Haru starts talking. It’s still mostly quiet and he uses as little words as possible when explaining things, but he just talks. Makoto drinks in every word, every suggestion like his life depends on it. At one point, to give an example of what Haru suggests, he brings up the violin into a playing position and starts to [demonstrate](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvzbPGgv7R4). It sounds beautiful, and Makoto can hear the difference between the technique Haru is using and what he had been doing before. Even though Haru transposed the cello piece on the spot and played it almost flawlessly, he still made a face once he was finished. “It sounds so much better on cello. This piece really wasn’t made for violin, without the C string it just doesn’t sound the same.” In which Makoto nods, definitely agreeing, though he makes sure to tell Haru that it still sounded amazing regardless.

They spend about the next fifteen minutes going through the music together, marking the measures and talking. They should be going through their actual orchestra music, not this piece that Makoto just plays in his free time mostly for warm up, but they seem to be enjoying working on something that isn’t required of them for once. After they switch back and forth for a while and play for each other, Haru checks the clock hung up high on the wall.

“Do you want to play through the prelude together? People will start getting here soon.”

“Play it together?” Makoto repeats, still not over this entire interaction in general. The whole time his heart has been beating fast and his hands keep sweating. This has resulted in some silly mistakes on his part when playing, and even when Haru assured him that it was fine, it still left him blushing and even more nervous than before.

“Sure. It won’t sound like an actual duet since we’ll just be playing the same part, but we can just go through it and see if the changes we made sound any better.” Haru suggests, already bringing the violin up under his jaw.

Makoto smiles, feeling a sense of enthusiasm coming from Haru that tends to stay hidden. He nods and brings up his cello to playing position as well, counting them off so they can start together.

It sounds incredible. At least, to Makoto it does. He tries really hard to correct every mistake that Haru pointed out to him and keep up the tempo (that Haru just does with ease, much to Makoto’s dismay). The blend of the violin and cello sound is something special, even if the two instruments are playing the same piece. Makoto understands Haru’s feelings towards the piece being played on violin, it just doesn’t have the same charm, though when they play it together it really does sound nice. He doesn’t play it perfectly, a couple times slipping up when trying to mimic Haru’s effortless playing, but they end together, which is something. The sounds rings out into the room for a couple seconds before stopping completely, leaving them in silence.

They both put their instruments back into resting position, neither one saying anything yet. Behind them, the doors to the room open, startling them a bit. They turn, expecting to see a student, but instead it’s the band director. She smiles at them, yet doesn’t say anything, instead just slipping back into the office area to make preparations for the days rehearsals.

“Do you think she heard us?” Haru asks the taller sitting next to him.

“I don’t know, maybe? She probably could hear us out in the hall.”

Haru nods, watching after where she had left a second ago. Finally, other orchestra members started trickling in and finding their seats, looking tired from rising at an early hour.

“Well, I guess I should go back to my seat.” Haru tells Makoto, though he feels himself hesitate a little as he brings up his case and folder to sit on his lap.

“Yeah, guess so.” Makoto swallows, not sure if telling Haru how much he enjoyed playing with him would be a little too awkward since the best time to say it had passed. He decides not to, and instead says, “Thank you for helping me, I really appreciate it.”

Haru looks at him and another small smile forms on his face. It’s not like the other before, which was caused by laughter, this was a bit more of a smirk. Nevertheless, it about made Makoto’s heart stop. “You’re welcome.” He says before getting up, leaving Makoto as he makes his way to the front row to sit in his own seat. Makoto watches him from behind for a few minutes as he practices some scales and other basic warm ups to pass the time. He looks down at the notes Haru made on his music again, admiring the clear markings and pristine handwriting. His favorite marking was one where Haru about nearly underlined a whole section of the prelude, and in the margin he simply wrote: _perfect_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on [Tumblr](http://nagi-chan-san.tumblr.com/)? 
> 
> I hope Haru's change of character in this chapter doesn't seem too drastic, I just really wanted to portray how music (and Makoto :')) brings out a different side in him. 
> 
>  
> 
> [Bach Cello Suite No. 1 Prelude (Cello only, what Makoto and Haru practiced)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCicM6i59_I)  
> [Bach Cello Suite No. 1 Prelude (Violin only, roughly what Haru would sound like playing by himself)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvzbPGgv7R4)
> 
>  
> 
> These songs are also linked in the fanfic in the appropriate times they are playing them :)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!
> 
> First of all, I'd like to apologize for how short this chapter is. Tbh just consider this a transition chapter. I was going to write a lot more but I've been so busy that if I went to write everything I wanted to happen in this chapter I'd never be able to get it out lol. Basically work takes up most of my free time and when I am free I play Persona 5 with my best friend lol :P i was also preparing for Anime Midwest that I attended this weekend which is also why this chapter is so extremely late. 
> 
> Just a little look into Makoto learning more about Haru in his free time. Updates will not take this long in the future now that the conventions over, and chapters should be longer than this as well. I hope you continue to read once the next chapter is out to see what happens next!
> 
> Comments and kudos are EXTREMELY appreciated <3

“I’m home.”

Makoto shuts the front door behind him discards his shoes by the front door. He’s met with silence in the house, which makes him frown. Usually the twins were home since it’s summer break, but maybe they went out with their friends for the day. Both of his parents work as well and usually weren’t home until later in the evening. The complete silence in the house was strange, but not unwelcome. On his way to his room, he picks up some trash and other things Ren and Ran had left sitting around the house so his mom wouldn’t have to do it later. At their age, they were notorious for making a mess and then not bothering to pick up after themselves, no matter how many times they got chewed out for it. Makoto didn’t really feel like listening to that lecture again, so he just decided to eliminate the problem before it began. Sometimes he wonders if he’s TOO nice when it comes to his siblings.

After the living room and kitchen are picked up, he finally goes to his own room and shuts the door. He sighs, setting down his folder and wallet on his desk. Despite them being fortunate enough to have an air conditioned house, the air still feels warm and humid enough to be uncomfortable. He switches on a small fan sitting on his bedside table, which helps the air not feel so stuffy.

Not sure what to do, he sits on his bed in front of the fan, his mind starting to wander as the cool breeze hits him in the face. He thinks about typical things, such as moving out for college in a couple months and whether he should start packing soon. Is it too early for that? Is he nervous for nothing? He’s also going to start learning to be an elementary school teacher, is there any reason to start studying early or something? These things are usually what’s on his mind but, for some reason, he mostly thinks about the orchestra.

And Haru.

Their impromptu practice session from the morning won’t stop playing on repeat in Makoto’s head. Haru had been so kind, so helpful, and gave off a completely different impression than Makoto originally got from him. He didn’t think Haru was rude or anything, but he just assumed he wouldn’t want anything to do with him, or anyone, for that matter. Obviously Haru had to be invested in band and his instrument or he wouldn’t be spending his free time on it, but he was just so… passionate. Like really passionate. Makoto has met many instrumentalists who hate what they do because most of the time they’ve been pressured by their parents to do it, rather than doing it because they love it and want to improve. After what Rei had told him about Haru (like the way he acted at competitions and how talented he was) he just assumed that’s probably what he was like. Though, after this morning, that thought just didn’t seem right anymore. Was Haru still pressured by a family member to play violin? Or did he do it just because he liked it? The thought intrigued Makoto, and he really wished he had a clear answer.

The more Makoto thought about Haru and their practice session, the warmer his face got from embarrassment. He acted like such an IDIOT. He was so flustered with Haru there, but why? Sure, Makoto’s always been a little nervous practicing in front of people, especially in a small group, so maybe Haru unexpectedly showing up in the morning really threw him off. And, honestly, after listening to Rei talk about Haru and his level of playing, there was also a bit of intimidation. Thankfully that feeling slowly faded away the longer they sat together, but it was still always in his mind. Their different skill levels were especially prominent when they played together. Makoto remembered how baffled he was about Haru’s confidence and his ability to transpose. Remembering how he reacted to that made him cringe like he would remembering something embarrassing he did when he was fifteen. Though his embarrassing reaction was also one that made Haru laugh and smile, which Makoto thinks he’s never going to be able to get over.

The more he thought about Haru, the more curious he got. Eventually he sits back against the headboard and brings up his laptop that was sitting by his bed. He plugs it in before opening the lid, letting it boot up and load. It was an older model, but still in good shape. Despite how many years Makoto has owned the laptop and how attached he is to it, it’s starting to slow down, and he knows that at some point during the summer he would have to get a new one before he moved to Tokyo.

Once it’s fully started up and on his desktop, he opens his web browser and clicks on his bookmark that leads to YouTube. He stares at the homepage for a second, his cursor hovering over the search bar. He bites his lip, wondering what he wanted to do would even come up with any results. Well, he wouldn’t know unless he tried, right? He clicks on the search bar, and slowly types in ‘Haruka Nanase Violin’ and hits enter. In the split second of waiting for the results to load, he’s expecting nothing, but what he finds surprises him.

There are so many videos. They’re all uploaded by the same user, and they’re all professional recording of Haru playing solos during his competitions. Curiously, Makoto clicks on the channel, only to find that it’s a YouTube channel for one of the competitions that upload their soloists’ performances with permission. Probably as a way to promote the venue and events, Makoto assumes. There are many videos of soloists performing pieces, but Makoto’s only interested in Haru’s, so he goes back to the search results.

As to be expected, the videos don’t have many views, most of them being at only a couple hundred. The titles of the videos are all Haru’s name, instrument, and song he was performing, which helped Makoto browse through them. As he was scrolling down through the result, one video stood out more than the others because of the view count. Rather than just a couple hundred views, this one actually had a few thousand. Of course, this wasn’t anything compared to what some YouTube videos get, but for what the video was, it was pretty impressive. Curiously, Makoto clicks, and the video begins to play.

It’s from a couple years ago and, from what Makoto can tell, Haru looks pretty much the same, maybe with a rounder face just a tad bit shorter, making him look a bit younger. The video begins with the crowd politely clapping as Haru and his accompanist walk out onto the stage. The accompanist is an old woman, and she stands by the piano with her music in hand as Haru stands center stage. He’s dressed in a suit, perfectly tailored to his body, making him look extremely professional and impressive. After the applause, Haru bows respectfully and brings the violin up into the playing position. The woman takes her seat at the piano, her fingers gently resting on the keys. There’s a second of silence as the two prepare to play, and finally, they both [begin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITuECBJbBOU) at the same time.

Makoto listens to the performance intently, watching Haru effortlessly move his fingers across the finger board and glide his bow over the strings. It’s a slower piece, the intonation and style beautiful and calm. It picks up in tempo a bit, but it mostly remains controlled and collected. The chosen piece really helps bring out Haru’s intonation and control of his instrument, something that he had actually complimented Makoto on. The thought made Makoto feel even more honored than he originally did, especially now he’s seeing Haru do something similar with great skill.

Makoto watched the whole solo, which was only about six minutes, but it didn’t feel like it. He got so wrapped up in Haru’s performance, watching the way he moved with his instrument and the music, making it a visual experience as well as an auditory one. When it’s finished, the last note rings out through the air, and Haru finally lowers his instrument and his accompanist relaxes. The applause was loud and enthusiastic, much louder than when he first walked on stage. Makoto could tell he was a bit shaky and sweaty, something that every performer felt after a nerve-racking performance. Makoto had definitely experienced it first-hand before. Haru bowed once again, moving to walk off stage. The video ends a couple seconds later, and the suggested section is all filled with more of Haru’s performances. Makoto smiles and hovers his mouse over them, wondering which one he should choose next. While scrolling through, he finds the most recent video, which was posted just a bit over a year ago. Rei had mentioned that Haru hadn’t been to any competitions in almost two years and everyone had been wondering why.

When clicking the video, it began similarly, though Haru did look older and more collected than he had in the video that was a few years old. As he walked on stage, a different accompanist was with him, not the old lady that was in the rest of the videos. Makoto wondered why… scheduling conflict? Who knows.

The performance was still extremely good, but Makoto noticed that Haru just seemed more… distracted. Or uneasy. The performance was more technical than the other. It was seemed completely loyal to the sheet music, but Haru didn’t seem to pour his heart into the performance like the other videos portrayed. Makoto purses his lips, growing a little more concerned every passing minute. The performance ended and he got applause like usual. His bow was small and hurried, walking off stage quickly afterwards. Makoto checked to make sure that was really the latest of Haru’s videos, and to his disappointment, it was.

With the video over, he can hear shuffling and talking in the house now, and he quickly recognizes the twins arguing. He knows it’s only going to be a matter of seconds before they burst through his door, probably to bother him about something.

“Makooooo!”

He sighs, setting his laptop aside before he gets up to see what the commotions all about. Once entering the living room, he breaks up the petty fight, keeping them quiet by offering some snacks and putting on a game they can play. He spends most of his afternoon sitting in the room with them, aimlessly scrolling through some social media on his phone (which he rarely does, and man does he feel like he’s missed a lot) and talking with the twins whenever they address him.

Just when he’s about to retreat back to his room, he hears a knock on the front door. Ren and Ran hear it too, and before Makoto can react, they’re both up and racing to the door to see who it is. Makoto follows behind them at a slower pace but makes it to the door as soon as it’s opened.

“Hi, Mako-chan!” A short boy greets excitedly once he sees his friend. Ren and Ran both chant “Nagisa! Rei!” and give them both hugs before they can step into the house. They both return the hugs and ask how they’ve been and other formal stuff. Once the twins are satisfied with the interaction, they’re already heading back to the living room to finish their game.

Makoto smiles delightedly at his friends, not expecting a visit from them at all. “Hey~ What brings you guys here?” He asks.

“Me and Rei-chan were going to go to the arcade and then maybe eat afterwards and we wanted you to come!” Nagisa says, grinning widely as he bounces on the balls of his feet.

Behind him, Rei adjusts his glasses. “Yes, it’s been awhile since we’ve all been out together and thought we’d come invite you. You didn’t answer your phone earlier so we just dropped by in person instead.”

“Oh, really…?” Makoto never heard his phone go off, even if it was sitting on his desk. Maybe he was too distracted from watching the YouTube videos that he didn’t even hear it, which is kind of embarrassing.

“Sooo you wanna come?” Nagisa asks impatiently, “I’ve already got all my change ready for the arcade games, I can’t wait.”

Rei rolls his eyes and Makoto laughs. “Yeah I just need to get my wallet real quick.” He turns around and starts walking through the house, Rei and Nagisa following close behind. Nagisa starts rambling about how many tickets he’s going to win and that he’s going to buy Rei a teddy bear with his tickets because “that’s what a good boyfriend does”. At this Rei is offended at the implication that he’s a bad boyfriend, but Nagisa assures him that’s not what he meant. The other pouts slightly, but when Nagisa pinches his cheek and teases him he smiles slightly.

Makoto opens the door to his room and goes to his desk, picking up his wallet and putting it in his pocket. Nagisa wanders in after him, looking around his room. He spots Makoto’s open laptop sitting on his bed, and the blond tilts his head curiously when he sees a YouTube video paused. “What were you watching, Mako-chan?” He approaches the bed to get a better look at the screen.

“Huh?” Makoto turns, seeing Nagisa sit on his bed and grab the laptop. His face he immediately goes red and he starts to panic. “I-It’s nothing! I was just looking at orchestra videos!” He claims quickly, trying to reach out and grab his computer. The blond evades him easily, holding the laptop out of reach.

“If it’s just orchestra videos then why are you freaking out? Are you looking at creepy things, Mako-chan?” Nagisa says with a devious smile, finally getting a good luck at the video. After a second, his eyebrows furrow together in confusion. “Wait… this IS just a video of a violin performance. Why are you freaking out?”

Makoto doesn’t know what to say. His whole face is on fire from embarrassment. “U-Um…”

Intrigued, Rei walks over, taking the laptop from the blond. “Yes, why would you be…” At seeing the title of the video, the bespectled boy raises an eyebrow, looking at the taller in front of him. “This is a video of one of Haruka’s solo performances…”

“Uh… Y-Yes…”

“Why would you be watching this?” Rei persists.

“Wait, Mako-chan!” Nagisa interrupts before Makoto can speak. “Do you have a crush on this Haruka person?” His magenta eyes widen both in excitement and mischief.

“N-No! Absolutely not, I barely know him…!” He defends quickly, the accusation making so much blood run to his face that he thinks he might faint. “I… well, this morning when I went in early to practice, Haru was there too. We ended up practicing a bit, and, I don’t know… I got curious about his playing, especially since Rei told me about it the other day too. So I found this YouTube channel with all of his performances uploaded and I guess I just… started binge watching them.” He tells the truth, watching their faces for a reaction.

This seems to satisfy Rei well enough, but Nagisa still squints at him suspiciously. “Hmm… Are you SURE that you don’t have a crush? Your face is REALLY red, Mako-chan.”

“No, I don’t…! And of course it is, you just barged in and took my laptop to see what I had been watching.” He defends, crossing his arms.

The shorter laughs and jumps up to his feet. “You’re right, that’s true. I’m sorry Mako-chan, I didn’t mean to be invasive like that.”

“Indeed, me either.” Rei adds, adjusting his glasses again and glancing down.

Makoto’s body relaxes a bit and he drops his arms back down to his sides. “It’s okay, I’m not mad about it or anything.”

His friends relax also and smile.

“Alright, can we go now?” Nagisa pipes up, his eagerness from before returning.

The others say yes, finally making their way out of his room and to the front door. Before they leave Makoto tells his siblings to behave for a few minutes by themselves before their mom gets home. They both agree and wave goodbye to the three before resuming what they were doing before. They all leave, walking out onto the street and into the heat of the summer evening.

\--

Makoto didn’t get home until late that night, thanks to Nagisa dragging him and Rei around for a lot more than just the arcade and dinner. While it was definitely fun, Makoto was absolutely exhausted by the time he got home. He walked in to all the lights off and the house quiet, indicating that everyone had gone to bed. He tries to be quiet as he walks to his room, especially as he passes by Ren and Ran’s room. Once he’s changed and collapses on his bed, he’s asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on [Tumblr?](http://nagi-chan-san.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Song that Haru performed in the YouTube video:
> 
>  
> 
> [Sonata II in G Minor G.F. Händel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITuECBJbBOU)
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for reading, next chapter will be out as soon as possible!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh yay I finally got around to finishing this! I told you guys this chapter would be a little longer (and I updated in less than two weeks wow that's a big deal for me). 
> 
> Things should start to pick up more from this chapter. Look forward to Haru and Makoto spending lots of time together in future chapters and then they develop....... Gay Feelings B)
> 
> Comments and kudos are EXTREMELY appreciated! <3

In the morning, large, gray clouds slowly roll over the city of Iwatobi, casting darkness over the ocean and the morning commuters. Haru quickens his pace to the point where he’s walking so fast he’s almost jogging. He tries to seem as casual as possible as he passes by other pedestrians, his feet slapping on the sidewalk in his rush.

Once again, the violinist woke up early, and the temptation of going to the school early was too great to resist. His morning routine had been normal and he actually remembered to eat breakfast _and_   pack himself a lunch for the day. Hopefully that will prevent anymore awkward encounters with his band members. As he was preparing for the day ahead, he noticed the dark overcast outside, but somehow talked himself out of bringing an umbrella, thinking that he could make it to the school in time before it rained (if it even did). Though he’s immediately starting to regret the decision. The clouds look so menacing and it’s only a matter of time before the sky opens up to a torrential downpour. Why hadn’t he just checked the weather on his phone like a normal person? The thought never even crossed his mind until he was too far away from home to even think about turning back.

Thunder cracked through the sky, and Haru grit his teeth as he decided to abandon all decency and start lightly jogging. The oncoming storm made the air feel even more humid than usual and it honestly felt as if Haru was actually running through water. While the actual temperature of the air was cooler, he was still sweating from the humidity, which made him feel disgusting. Summer really isn’t his thing unless he’s in a pool or the ocean.

 _Almost there, almost there, almost there…_ Haru thinks desperately as he rushes past people on the street, quietly apologizing under his breath if he accidentally bumped someone before hurrying along. The school’s only a few blocks away at this point and Haru honestly thinks he could make it.

And then the rain starts.

It starts lightly and he feels the small drops on his hair before noticing it dotting the sidewalk ahead of him. He didn’t even have time to fully register what was happening when it was as if a bucket was dumped from the sky, the rain coming down in literal sheets, the drops big and fat as they drenched everything. In a slight panic, he slows down and quickly puts his folder under his violin case and then holds the case flat on his head, trying to use the small thing as some sort of protection from the rain. It doesn’t do anything besides keeping his folder from being absolutely destroyed and keep the rain out of his eyes long enough for him to find the closest awning. Thankfully there was one just up ahead in front of a little coffee shop, and he quickly runs over until he’s under it. Seeing other pedestrians doing the same makes him feel a little better, though he’s still in disbelief at how stupid he was. Once he’s safe under the awning, he lets out a sigh of relief, taking the case down from his head and looking under it at the folder to make sure it didn’t get damaged. It wasn’t, only a few pages were damp around the edges. He could have easily ruined all the music he’s been carrying around for years and that would’ve been devastating.

Now that he’s covered from the rain, he relaxes a bit, watching the rain come down only a few inches away from him. Usually Haru doesn’t mind being caught in a rainstorm; it’s actually one of his favorite surprises when he’s out. All water, in any shape or form, is Haru’s comfort. If he wasn’t holding his very expensive instrument and a delicate folder filled with years and years of music and memories, he probably would have just walked through the rain casually, not even caring if his clothes got soaked all the way through. They dry eventually, right?

Behind him, there’s a small table that’s part of the café’s outside sitting area when the weather is nice. Because of the rain, all the tables and chairs are empty, so Haru sets down his violin and folder down. The few people who had taken refuge under the same awning had all moved on, finding their umbrellas in their bags or simply deciding to sprint through the rain so they wouldn’t be late to wherever they had to be that morning. At least Haru left early again, or he would probably be late to practice if he had to wait out the storm for a few minutes. Appreciating the fact that it was just him now, he takes a small step forward, slightly extending his arm until his hand was out in the rain. He took a moment to appreciate the way the warm water hit his hand and ran through his fingers. He stayed like that for just a few seconds before pulling back. He doesn’t usually care about what other people think around him, but he was already embarrassed from forgetting his umbrella, he didn’t need any more odd stares from anyone today.

Right as he stepped back, he heard the bell over the café’s door jingle, and naturally, he glances over at who’s exiting the coffee shop.

He certainly wasn’t expecting that person to be Makoto.

He steps out of the shop, a small cup of presumably coffee in his hand, his folder underneath his arm, and an umbrella in his other hand. Haru stays completely still, praying to any and all holy beings that Makoto _not_  look over and notice him.

Just his luck, he looks over, glances away, and does a double take.

Dammit.

“Haru?” He asks hesitantly,

He doesn’t respond.

“What are you doing here?” Makoto persists, stepping closer to Haru to not block the door.

Subconsciously, Haru looks down at his own soaked clothes, as if Makoto’s question had the most obvious answer in the world. Following Haru’s action, he looks down at Haru’s appearance, and it seems to click in his head.

“O-Oh, oh my god, what happened…?! Where’s your umbrella?”

Haru purses his lips, looking away, obviously embarrassed. “… Forgot it.” He mumbles, barely audible over the pouring rain.

“Well, that’s obvious I guess…” Makoto answers.

“What are you doing here?” Haru questions back.

“Um, sometimes I stop to get coffee in the mornings. I used to do it all the time when I was in high school.” Makoto’s not sure why he added that last part, but Haru seems to make him say embarrassing things without even meaning to do it.

Haru simply nods, not saying anything else. They both remain quiet for a few long seconds until the reality of the situation starts to _really_  sink in for Makoto. Haru – Haruka Nanase – was standing in front of him, drenched and huddling under a small café awning to avoid the rain, all because he simply forgot to grab an umbrella. Makoto doesn’t know what comes over him, but he breaks out into a smile, and starts laughing. It’s quiet at first and he tries to bring up the hand that’s holding his coffee to hide his smile, but it’s impossible once his laughter just gets louder.

Haru is… shocked? Dumbfounded? Horrified? What the hell was Makoto laughing at? Suddenly, his brows turn down in anger and he crosses his arms across his chest. He looks away from Makoto, suddenly feeling really annoyed and wants him to leave.

Meanwhile, Makoto is trying to contain himself, his loud laughs slowly dying down, though his eyes are still screwed shut from his outburst. Finally, he lowers his hand and opens his eyes, still smiling affectionately as the last bit of laughter fades away. He sees Haru’s body language and his smile falters into an expression of concern. “O-Oh my god, I’m so sorry Haru…! I-I didn’t mean to laugh I just… I just wasn’t expecting this, I guess? Oh god I feel so horrible, I shouldn’t have found that funny.” He babbles quickly, wanting nothing more than to take that last moment back. Did he really make Haru mad at him? Makoto feels himself start to panic. “I-I can lend you my umbrella, if you want? I can walk the rest of the way without it! Er, well, then my folder would get ruined…” He thinks for a second. “Oh! We could walk together! It doesn’t look like the storm’s going to let up any time soon and I don’t want you to be late, especially if I can help prevent that.”

Now surprised, Haru looks back at the taller boy standing in front of him. His request was serious and he was patiently waiting for an answer. Haru sighs, lowering his arms to his sides and his expression softens slightly as well (even though he was still a bit annoyed from being laughed at). He wanted to refuse the offer so badly. He’s made a fool of himself in front of Makoto before and today was just the last straw. Why did Makoto always seem to see him after he’s made an embarrassing mistake? First he forgot his lunch and had to borrow money, and now when he forgot his umbrella and was rightfully stranded in front of a café.

At Haru’s hesitancy, Makoto offers another small and genuine smile, and that’s what breaks Haru. “I really wouldn’t mind, Haru, it’s only a few block away.”

Instead of a verbal response, Haru just nods and picks up his violin and folder from the table. Makoto’s smile turns into a full on grin, once again as if this interaction with Haru was the absolute highlight of his day. Every time he made that face Haru feels like he melts a bit and his features soften in response. He walks up beside Makoto right after he opens the large umbrella and stands on his right side, stepping back out into the rain without getting soaked this time.

They start walking together at a leisurely pace, trying to take up as little space as possible on the sidewalk so others can walk past them. The umbrella is thankfully large enough to cover them, but Makoto is a lot broader than Haru, and the black haired boy sees that at times Makoto is sacrificing his left shoulder so that Haru can be completely covered. He wants to say something but doesn’t want to make anything awkward, so he just looks back at the sidewalk ahead, his face heating up a bit.

Because they’re walking so close, their shoulders also brush on occasion, and every time they do it feels like a little electric spark. While a moment ago Haru’s face felt a little warm, it was hot now, feeling embarrassed with each passing second. Despite Haru’s inner turmoil, thankfully he’s always had a good poker face and the only way Makoto would notice is if he saw his red face.

While they walk, Makoto takes a sip of his coffee every once in a while. Despite the smell of rain, the coffee cuts through the air and it smells warm with a hint of vanilla. Haru has never liked coffee (always preferring tea instead) but the scent is nice and comforting. His parents were both coffee drinkers and the smell reminded him of home.

“So, um…” Makoto breaks the silence after a few minutes of walking. “Were you headed to the school early today too?”

“Yeah…” Haru answers simply.

“To practice before the band got there?”

“Yeah…” Haru says again and bites his lip. He actually left early in the slight hope that Makoto would be there again and that they could practice together. Haru had a lot of fun doing that yesterday, but he would never admit that out loud. He takes his violin home every day so he could have practiced in the morning without bothering to walk to the school. Makoto must have thought the same thing, because Haru swears he sees the other glance down at the violin and folder in his hand. He doesn’t say anything though, much to Haru’s relief.

“Were you going to practice too?” He questions back.

“Yeah, since I keep my cello there I need to come early if I want to get some practicing in.” The other says.

“You could always practice after rehearsals.” Haru reminds him.

A small laugh. “Yeah, I know, but usually my friends always drag me to do something else after rehearsals. Or I have to get home to watch my siblings.”

“Siblings?”

“Yeah, they’re twins, Rin and Ran.” Makoto says and smiles. For some reason, the fact that Makoto had two younger siblings just made so much sense to Haru. His easy-going and calm demeanor definitely gave off a “big brother” vibe. Haru found himself frowning slightly, thinking for a second that Makoto just seems too perfect. He’s a big brother, an amazing cello player, _and handsome?_ Unfair.

Realizing he hadn’t answered yet, he quickly nods. “That’s nice…”

“What about you, Haru? Do you have any siblings?” Makoto looks over at him expectantly.

He shakes his head. “No, I’m an only child.”

“Oh, I see. Well, were your parents the ones to encourage you to start playing violin?”

He shakes his head again. “No, my grandma did.”

Makoto wasn’t expecting that answer but he nods, interested. “Oh okay! Did she play violin?”

“She played a bit of everything. She was really good at piano, though.”

Makoto waits for Haru to add anything else, but he doesn’t say anything, instead just continuing to stare ahead at the sidewalk. Sometimes Makoto forgets that Haru doesn’t like talking much anyway. “That sounds nice.”

The other nods and they continue the rest of their walk in silence. By the time they reach the front doors of the school, Makoto had finished his coffee and tosses the empty cup in the nearest trash can. They walk in and Makoto unfolds the umbrella, shaking the excess water off on one of the rugs in the front entrance, careful not to accidentally get any on the tile. When he’s turned around, Haru sees that the rain really did soak one of his shoulders.

“Um, thank you…” When Makoto looks back at him, Haru continues. “For letting me use your umbrella and… walking with me.” He adds.

“You’re welcome, I didn’t mind at all!” Makoto smiles. “Did you, um… Did you want to practice again, Haru?”

Even though Haru had wanted to practice with Makoto again, he was still taken back that the other had the courage to ask him. Haru definitely knows he wouldn’t have been the first to ask. “Yes.” He says simply.

“Great!”

They both climb the stairs together, both a bit more than eager to get their instruments out of the cases and start playing.

-

They work on the same piece they had started on yesterday, even if it was still only for cello. Makoto was surprised to see that Haru had actually used some manuscript paper to transpose his cello music and also write in other parts so it would be a proper duet.

“You can write music too?” He asks, baffled again like he was the day before. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to make Haru laugh, much to Makoto’s disappointment.

“A little, not much though…” The other answers honestly.

Makoto just nods in response. “Well, should we try it together then?”

Haru nods, and they both bring up their instruments. Once they start playing, it’s obvious things are much smoother than their rehearsal yesterday. Makoto isn’t as nervous, the initial shock of being with Haru wearing off, so he’s a lot more focused. His fingers move across strings easier, Haru notices, and a small smile tugs at his lips as they move and play together.

In the middle of the song, they hear a door shut, which promptly stops them to see who had entered the room. There’s a brief moment of panic in their eyes when they think it’s another band member.

Though, to their relief, it’s only the band director, and they both relax. “Hello, Amakata-sensei.” Makoto smiles and gives a small wave.

“Hello, you two.” She says back, returning Makoto’s smile. “Up early practicing, I see.”

They both nod.

“I actually happened to overhear you yesterday when you were both playing…” Her smile turns a little devious, and they have a feeling Amakata has something planned for them.

Haru and Makoto tense up. “You… You did?”

The director giggles in response to Makoto’s question. “Yep! And I really must say, you both are extremely talented string players.”

They both sound off a quiet “thank you” in response, intrigued by what Amakata was going to tell them next.

“So, I was thinking…” She walks closer to them and pulls up a chair, sitting by them. “We have an empty spot in our program and I was originally going to fill it with a short song that the whole orchestra would perform, but…” She trails off as if Makoto and Haru were supposed to connect the dots to what she was going to say next.

Unfortunately, they didn’t understand, and instead they just gave her a confused look that begged her to continue.

She sighs and crosses her arms. “I was thinking that you two could perform a duet together.”

Both of their eyes widen, shocked by the sudden request. “A-A duet…?! But why? Wouldn’t that just make the rest of the orchestra angry?”

She laughs and waves her hand dismissively. “No no, definitely not! I don’t think anyone would have a real problem with it. And if they did, they’ll get over it or bring it up with me personally.”

Haru’s eyebrows furrow together in concern, not liking the sound of that idea.

When she doesn’t get another immediate response, she starts to get a little desperate. “I would appreciate if you two would do it! I mean, Nanase-san is locally famous in the band community and I know how wonderful his playing is. As for Tachibana-san, I personally had never heard you play, but the last couple days I’ve noticed that your sound is absolutely beautiful and you play with Nanase-san really well! You are really in sync with each other when playing, it’s mesmerizing.”

Makoto blushes, his ears and cheeks hot. “U-Um, well, th-thank you…”

The compliment also has Haru blushing, but he effectively just avoids her gaze and turns his head slightly, hiding it with his hair.

“Are you two friends?” She asks.

“Uh, w-well…” Makoto subconsciously rubs the back of his head with his hand, trying to find the right words to say to not upset Haru by assuming anything. “We actually just met the first day of camp. We just ran into each other yesterday morning and decided to practice together. And then we ran into each other on the way here and decided to do it again, I guess…” Haru must have been satisfied by Makoto telling the truth because he looks back at Amakata and nods.

“Ooh okay, I see! Well, the offer is still out there, it would be a _delight_  to watch you two perform.” She claps her hands together, smiling sweetly. “I actually had a few duets in mind already. If you talk and decide you want to do one, just stop by my office! I’ll lend you the sheet music and the CD’s so you can hear them before deciding.”

They both just dumbly nod, still feeling as if they got sudden whiplash from the request. With a final encouragement for them to think it over, Amakata gets up from her seat and pushes it back in place before disappearing into her office.

There’s a few seconds of awkward silence. “Um…” Makoto tries to start, awkwardly fidgeting with the bow in his hands. When Haru just looks at him, he continues. “What… What do you think?”

Haru looks back at the music in front of him. He mulls it over a bit in his head and… shrugs. “I don’t know. What do you think?”

“I, um…” Makoto bites his lip. What does he think? “I think it’s an honor to be asked, I guess.”

“Me too.”

Makoto is a little disappointed at Haru’s lack of enthusiasm and for a moment, he’s about to turn down the idea, but is cut off.

“If we’re going to spend our mornings practicing together anyway, it wouldn’t be too much to do the duet.” Haru says quietly, glancing over at the taller to see what his reaction would be and if he’d have to backtrack.

To his relief, this only makes Makoto smile that beautiful, beautiful smile. “I was thinking the same thing! Though, um, there’s an issue…”

“What?” Haru turns to see him properly, intrigued.

“I…” The brunet visibly swallows and lets his eyes fall to the floor. “I get really bad stage fright…”

Haru cocks an eyebrow. “Stage fright?”

“I-I know, it sounds really weird! But um, I perform just fine in a big group, like the orchestra, but… I get so nervous when I’m by myself. I’ve never been in any competitions because of it, and usually I bomb really important auditions when I’ve tried to get into anything other than my school band or community orchestra…” He trails off, fiddling with the bow again.

Well, it makes sense, Haru thinks. He had been wondering why Makoto was such a talented player but Haru had never heard of him before in the band community. It’s a shame, really, he bets Makoto could have blown away so many judges from the quality of his playing. “I’ll be with you, though.” He says.

The other is quiet for second, and Haru can tell that he’s deep in thought. “Yeah, I suppose so… I’ve never performed a duet before, so, maybe I could do it. That is, if you really want to…”

Haru nods enthusiastically (maybe a little too enthusiastically by the way Makoto’s heart skips a beat). “I do.”

“Wow, okay, g-great…!” Makoto isn’t sure what to say, feeling absolutely giddy at the chance to play with Haru every day to come, something he thought about nonstop ever since yesterday. “So, should we ask Amakata-sensei about the music tomorrow?”

Haru nods, a small smile forming in response to Makoto’s expression of adoration. “Definitely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry there isn't any music linked in this chapter, there definitely will be some in the next chapter! It was all supposed to happen in this one but it would've ended up too long lol. Look forward to that, I did a lot of research to find a great duet for Makoto and Haru to play! Thanks for reading!
> 
> Follow me on [Tumblr](http://nagi-chan-san.tumblr.com/)?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh! Finally got it done!! 
> 
> Despite not putting out chapters as fast as I would like, I'm actually really proud of myself for writing as much as I have for this fic. I'm really invested in it and I'm really looking forward to finishing it!
> 
> Okay um, once again, this is a disclaimer that I AM NOT A STRING PLAYER. I did some light research and tried to pick out some of the best songs I came across, but I still have no idea if their difficulty is too low or high compared to what Haru and Makoto's skill level is in this fic. I just tried to keep the fic interesting by picking music I really liked from lists of duets I found online :3c 
> 
> With that, I hope you guys enjoy! Comments and kudos are EXTREMELY appreciated! <3

After the extremely eventful morning, Haru feels like he’s in a haze the rest of the day. Their rehearsal was just normal and, to be honest, boring compared to the new experiences from the first couple days of camp. Because of this, Haru found himself distracted as well. His mind kept wandering to the cellist that sat across from him, and for some reason this made him feel slightly self-conscious. Was Makoto watching him while they played? I mean, he doubted it, since he would be looking at his music like everyone else. That didn't necessarily stop Haru from being mesmerized when the brunet would pick up his bow to play his part. The raven haired boy ended up making more mistakes than usual when playing, usually when he was spacing out during rests and would be snapped back to reality a second too late. His mistakes weren’t too bad, but they were obvious enough that the director did have to stop the band a couple times to correct something with him. He didn’t really mind, but sometimes he wished he didn’t play such an important part so that he did have the luxury of letting his mind be preoccupied by other things while they play. Players with smaller parts get to do that all the time, Haru assumes.

The only good thing about the morning section of the day is that the band mostly stays focused. Being up early, while making the band tired, also helps them not feel so restless and be focused on their music. Even though it was only a few days into the camp, the director constantly comments on how surprised she is by the progress they have made. Haru had to agree, he’s happy with how good they sound and that he’s managing to stay engaged with the music (the only reason that he’s constantly spacing out was due to Makoto, really). Though at a certain point, the very few breaks they get during the first hours of their rehearsals start to make the students rowdy. It takes a bit more effort for the director to get them quieted down as she’s helping a certain section, and there’s a lot more students checking their phones and mumbling to their friends. Haru can tell this annoys the director, but she’s determined to not give in and stick to their daily schedule.

Their lunch break was a great relief to everyone, and upon their dismissal, a lot of students immediately got up to stretch their tense muscles. Chatting and laughter drifted through the air as the orchestra broke up into groups of friends that followed each other out into the hall.

Haru wasn’t as quick to get up as the rest, instead taking a couple minutes to write some notes in the margins of his sheet music. Sometimes while they were in the middle of playing he would think of something to circle or mark but wouldn’t get the chance to until later, but thankfully his memory was good enough that he could remember. Right when he brought his music into his lap and took out his pencil, he saw Rei putting his instrument away in his peripheral vision. He glanced over without turning his head, just so it wouldn’t appear as if he was gawking. He watched the boy take his time, organizing his music in the correct order for their afternoon rehearsal after his instrument was put away in its case.

Right as Haru reached down to get the lunch he made for himself, a short, excited boy weaved through the crowd and stopped right in front of Rei.

“Rei-chan! Ready to go?” He asks loudly, causing Haru to wince a little since it caught him off guard.

Rei nods, getting up from his chair and shutting his folder. “Of course.” He pushes up his red glasses.

“Okay! Mako-chan is waiting outside for us.”

Mako-chan? Does he mean Makoto? He does vaguely remember seeing the blond go up to Rei on the first day, and he’s seen Makoto join them for lunch. Before he can stop himself, Haru curiously leans to the side to look around the two and towards Makoto's seat. The chair was empty, which made him feel a little disappointed. He’s not sure why, it’s not as if they had planned to meet up during their lunch break or anything. He sighs quietly and sits back normally in his chair. Though once he does, he’s startled to see the blond boy practically staring at him while Rei walks passed, unaware of the other’s actions. There’s a couple excruciating seconds of awkward silence as Haru stares back at the blond, not sure what to do.

Thankfully, he doesn’t have to break the silence. “You’re Haru-chan, right?”

Haru-chan? His eye twitches, automatically feeling annoyed at the way too friendly nickname this stranger had given him. He frowns. “Haruka.” He corrects, not trying to sound _too_ matter-of-factly, but stern enough in hopes that the other won’t do it again.

The boy in front of him breaks out into a blinding smile. “I thought so! Mako-chan mentioned you the other day, so I was just wondering. And you’ve competed with Rei-chan before, but I bet you already knew that.”

“Yeah…” What was this guy getting at? “Makoto mentioned me?” He asks before he can stop himself. Dammit.

“Yeah! Today he said that you guys may perform a duet together? That sounds really cool! I totally think you should do it.” The boy encourages eagerly, his magenta eyes practically sparkling as he leans a little _too_ close into Haru’s personal space.

Haru glances away from the boy awkwardly, crossing his arms. He doesn’t say anything else, despite the other waiting for a response. While most would think this was Haru coming off as rude, this boy didn’t even seem phased. “Hey, why don’t you join us for lunch? It’s just me, Rei, and Makoto. We’d love to have you join!”

Haru can’t help it, his eyebrows raise slightly in shock. Was this guy serious?

“Nagisa-kun!” Someone suddenly calls from the door, and they both turn to see Rei. He seems to be curious about the interaction as well, because he walks over to them before addressing the blond (or Nagisa, Haru assumes) again. “Nagisa-kun, what are you doing?”

“I was just inviting Haru-chan to come eat lunch with us! I mean, he’s totally welcome, right? That way he doesn’t have to sit in here all by himself if he doesn’t want to.” Nagisa explains, still smiling brightly.

Rei seems a little unsure, glancing over at Haru. “U-Um, well, I guess if he wants to…”

Haru looks back down at his music in front of him, a frown tugging at his lips. “That’s okay, I’ll stay here.”

The expression on the blond’s face falls a bit. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

The two boys in front of him aren’t sure what to do next. “W-Well it is true, you are always welcomed to sit with us if you want, Haruka-san! I’m sure Makoto wouldn’t mind at all, either.”

If that’s the case, why hasn’t Makoto come up to say anything…? Haru wonders. However, he just nods. “Okay, thanks.” He settles for.

The two finally start to walk off, and Haru can see that Rei’s face is bright red with embarrassment while his blond friend doesn’t even seems perfectly fine. Haru doesn’t let himself relax until he sees them disappear through the doors and into the hall.

\--

“You did _what?!_ ”

Nagisa winces at Makoto’s loud tone, something he’s not used to hearing from his gentle friend. “He just looked so lonely! I was just trying to be nice…”

Makoto groans, banging his head softly against the locker behind him. He had to step out for literally five minutes because he missed a call from Ren (over something stupid, too), he did not expect to find out that in that short amount of time, Nagisa had somehow managed to approach Haru and address him like he’s known the guy for years. Haru probably had no clue what was even going on.

“What did you even say?” Makoto urges, looking back at him, his face red.

“I just said that you had mentioned him and that he was welcome to eat with us! Why are you treating it like it’s such a big deal? I was just trying to help out…” The boy huffs childishly.

“I guess… I just wish you would have asked me about it first.” Makoto says quietly and sighs. He’s suddenly very interested in his lunch that’s sitting in his lap.

Nagisa narrows his eyes at the older boy sitting across from him. “Are you sure you don’t have a crush on Haru-chan? I’ve never seen you get upset over something like this before.”

Makoto startles at the blond’s words. “N-No, I don’t!” He defends immediately.

The other can’t help but giggle at the response. “Okaaay, if you say so. But I wasn’t lying when I said he’s totally welcome to sit with us! Maybe when you guys start hanging out he’ll join us.”

Makoto appreciates Nagisa’s enthusiasm for him, though he highly doubts that’s going to happen. He’ll never admit that a huge part of him really wants to eventually become closer to Haru. He finds him so interesting, yet mysterious at the same time. Makoto just wants to know everything about Haru and, honestly, his lack of speech and secrecy only fuels the brunet’s curiosity.

Though thankfully, the subject was dropped almost as soon as it was brought up. His friends were onto talking about the next subject, Makoto only adding to the conversation when necessary. He kept thinking about Haru, who was probably sitting by himself in the band room like he had been the last couple days. He understands why Haru would turn down the offer to eat with them (especially when asked by Nagisa, since he has such an assertive personality), but he also can’t help but feel a little disappointed that the offer was shot down. Makoto makes a mental note that he’ll ask about it again within the next couple days after they start practicing together. What kind of duet are they going to perform? There are endless possibilities. Violin and cello make a perfect duo for playing classical pieces, though maybe they’ll do something a little more modern? Contemporary? He should do some research on duets when he gets home…

He chews his food slowly and thoughtfully. Across from him, Rei shares a knowing look with Nagisa, who then grins a bit deviously.

\--

It’s Friday morning, and Makoto’s extremely grateful for it. The week had been both eventful and exhausting. He met Haru, which he considers an overall positive to the orchestra experience as a whole so far. He was definitely looking forward to meeting with him this morning to work out what they’re going to play for their duet, though he has to admit he’s even more excited to sleep in the next couple days.

Makoto was extra tired because he stayed up late the night before looking up and listening to many different violin and cello duets. He lost count of how many he listened to, actually. At first it was to get an idea of what he and Haru may want to play together, but it soon spiraled out of control until he was listening to entire orchestra movements. Damn the internet for sidetracking him.

Even though he eventually got distracted from his original goal, he did have a few that stuck with him in his search. Maybe the first movement in [Godard: Aubade?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgq7usaMZCE) [Johann Georg’s violin and cello duet in C?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxPzW0Va8nM) And then there were the more complicated pieces, such as [Boccherini Duetto](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHuIpbvIm5Q) and [Johann Halvorsen’s duo for violin and cello.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzdACqfQYhE) Makoto’s almost positive they wouldn’t approach something that difficult (especially given the small time frame), but his love for band and his instrument didn’t stop him from daydreaming and feeling happy while he did.

When he gets up and emerges from his room, his mom was up again, cooking him breakfast. It didn’t matter how many times he told her than she didn’t have to, she continued to do it anyway. Though Makoto’s prediction that the twins would eventually prefer sleep than food came true, since now it just ended up being his mother who would quietly eat and drink coffee with him.

“So, Mako, how has the first week been?” She asks, setting down the cup of coffee he asked for in front of him.

He picks it up, taking a sip before answering. “It’s been great, actually!”

She practically beams at that. “That’s great! I had a feeling you’d really like it. It just seemed like something that could be a casual learning experience.” She takes a drink of her own coffee.

“Me too, I think it was a good thing to do in the summer before going to Tokyo.” He pauses, biting his lip for a second. “Though maybe I should have gotten a job… Y’know, to help pay for college.”

At that, his mom quickly shakes her head. “Nonsense! I wanted you to have a fun summer in Iwatobi before you went away, not constantly working.” She says.

Makoto sighs, still not feeling right about it. “I guess… I just wish I could help you and dad out. I mean, Ren and Ran need a college fund when they’re old enough, too.”

“Don’t worry about it, Mako. Me and your father have it under control, I promise.” She smiles, though it’s clear that while she tries to tell him there’s nothing to stress over, she is stressed in some way.

He looks down at his food, suddenly not feeling very hungry anymore. “Okay… But if you guys ever need any help, I’m here.” He assures seriously.

“Of course…” There’s a moment of silence as the two slowly begin to eat their food again. “So, how come you’ve been leaving early? I know you mentioned it was to practice, but even then you have a pretty obvious skip in your step when you leave the house.” The tension from before is gone, now replaced with his mother’s sly smile.

Makoto felt himself blush. “I-It’s nothing, really. I guess… I guess I met this guy in the orchestra. His name’s Haruka.”

His mother raises an eyebrow. “Haruka? What instrument does he play?”

“Violin.” Makoto answers easily. “He’s amazing… Incredible, actually. He’s been in a lot of local competitions. He’s even competed with Rei a lot, and came out on top every time.”

At that statement, he has her attention. It’s a known fact that Rei is an incredible violinist (the best that his mother’s ever heard, anyway) so the thought of someone easily outplaying him is foreign to her. “Wow, that _is_ incredible!”

“Yeah, it is… But um, we kind of ran into each other and we started practicing in the mornings. Yesterday the director even asked if we wanted to perform a duet together to fill a spot in the orchestra program…”

Her eyes widen and she smiles brightly. “Mako, that’s great! You should’ve told me sooner!”

He laughs a little nervously. “Thanks, but I just found out yesterday. We’re meeting this morning to pick out a duet.”

“I can’t wait to find out what it is! So you’ve been leaving early to practice?”

He nods. “If everything goes well, I assume we’ll meet up before rehearsal every day to practice.”

“That’s really exciting! Well, if you two every need somewhere else to practice, Haruka is always welcome here. Just let me know ahead of time so I can keep Ren and Ran from bothering you.”

Makoto chuckles at that, nodding gratefully. “Okay, I will.” Haru come over to his house? The thought is strange, especially since they hadn’t known each other long, but it makes his heart beat a little faster.

He finishes his meal quickly after that, not wanting to be late for their meeting. His mom waves him off as he exits the house and into the street. The weather is a lot nicer than the day before, so Makoto didn’t have to bother with his umbrella. He walks a bit faster than usual to the school, his mind racing with what’s to come.

\--

Haru beats him there, actually, even though Makoto gets to the school at their exact meeting time. He doesn’t mind, really, it just makes him feel like he’s late. When ascending the stair case, he can hear Haru playing his violin, and he has a moment where he thinks that this is how Haru must have felt when he walked in on Makoto playing. Makoto enters the room quietly, not wanting to disturb the other.

He’s pretty sure Haru notices him because he can see his eyes briefly dart towards the door, but he continues to play on. It’s not a [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueWVV_GnRIA) that the cellist recognizes, actually, but regardless it sounds beautiful. Haru is glued to the music in front of him for a few more seconds, getting through a few more bars before he finally comes to a stopping point and lowers his instrument. He looks at Makoto directly now, resting the instrument on his thigh. “Hey.” He greets.

“You could have kept playing, if you wanted…” Makoto practically blurts out before he can stop himself. He immediately wants to take it back as he feels the blush crawl up his neck, but he meant what he said. He could literally watch Haru play all day.

“Oh, no, it’s okay. I was just warming up.” Haru leans forward and organizes the music on his stand, moving the song he was just playing to the back of the pile.

“Um, what song was that? I didn’t recognize it.” Makoto asks, walking to the back of the room to retrieve his cello from the giant case.

“[It’s from a soundtrack from an American movie.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueWVV_GnRIA)” Haru says.

Oh, that’s probably why Makoto hadn’t heard it before; he wasn’t really one to listen to soundtracks. “You like to play music from soundtracks?”

Haru nods. “Yeah, usually.”

Interesting… Makoto thought, finally picking up his cello. He carefully maneuvered through the rows of chairs and sits in the one next to Haru.

“So, um, we’re doing the duet, right?” He asks nervously, just to make sure he didn’t misinterpret their conversation from yesterday. To his relief, Haru nods. “Have you thought of any that you might want to do?”

The boy next to him shrugs one shoulder. “Not really.”

Oh… if that’s the case, then Makoto would feel extremely awkward admitting that he spent literally hours looking into it. Should he suggest what he was thinking, anyway? Before he can mutter a response, the door to the band room opens again, and they both look towards them to find Amakata-sensei walking in.

Seeing the two of them, she practically beams. “Good morning!”

They both mumble a good morning in response and, like yesterday, she pulls up a seat next to them. “So, have you two thought about the duet?”

“Yeah, actually. We’re going to do it.” Makoto tells her, confident this time.

“Great! I actually have a couple suggestions, or have you two looked into it?”

They both shake their head. “Actually, we would love some of your suggestions, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all! I’ll be right back.” With that, she practically jumps out of her seat and into her office.

Makoto and Haru both watch after her, amused. Makoto even thinks he can see the ghost of a smile on Haru’s face. He will never not feel blessed to see such an expression on the boy’s face. After a couple minutes, Amakata emerges from her office, juggling multiple folders and CD’s in her hands. She grabs an extra stand next to them and places the papers on them. “I went through my archive of music yesterday and these were the best ones I could find for you two! You are more than welcome to look through them. If you don’t decide on any of these and want to find your own instead, that’s fine too, just make sure it’s picked out within the next couple days.”

Makoto thanks her, but Haru doesn’t say a thing, instead eagerly dragging the stand closer to him so he can start looking through the pieces. Makoto notices the way his eyes soften slightly when he’s looking through the music, and he smiles fondly at the boy sitting next to him for a second. He glances away once Amakata gets up. “Alright, I’ll leave you two to it!” With that, she goes back into her office, the door shutting behind her with a soft click.

Once she’s gone, Makoto finally focuses on the pile of music as well. He has to drag his chair a little closer to get a good look, but he also keeps in mind Haru’s personal space as he does so. “See anything yet?”

Haru purses his lips, shaking his head. “Here, you can look through some.” Haru divides the stack into half and hands it off to Makoto.

He gets to work, shuffling through and looking at all the parts; The difficulty, the key, the time signatures, everything that would indicate what the piece would sound like. There are a couple he doesn’t recognize and he googles them to listen to an audio track or watch a YouTube video with his phone on low volume.

The two of them continue this process for a good ten minutes, both silent unless they’re pulling up the audio on their phones. When Haru finds one that’s interesting, he’ll play the audio and lean a little closer to Makoto so he can watch the video or listen better. Every time he does this, Makoto feels like it’s harder to breathe and his heart beats fast. He vaguely notes that Haru smells really good when he gets really close at one point, and then he kicks himself for even thinking such a thing. Is that weird? He doesn’t even know anymore, all he knows is that he feels even more flustered than he usually does being around Haru.

There’s a particular piece he finds in his search that catches his attention. It’s a Beethoven piece and, even if it seems typical to pick such an iconic composer, he has to admit that the man had a serious talent for writing string pieces. He looks through the sheet music, growing more interested with every bar. It would take some practice and raw talent, but if he’s being honest, those are things they both possess. Even if it a bit difficult, it wasn’t unrealistic, which is a relief compared to the other songs Makoto had been shuffling through. “What about this one?” He asks, breaking the silence all the sudden.

Haru perks up, looking away from the sheet music he had been looking at a second ago. Makoto hands him the sheet music, suddenly feeling nervous. What if he hated it?

Like Makoto had done before, Haru’s eyes skimmed over the notes and other essential things. He looked interested, much to his relief. “Do you want to look it up? To see what it sounds like?”

“Oh, sure!” The brunet opens his phone, tapping onto Google and typing the name into the search bar:[ Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Violin and Cello duet in C Major.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQQZaXVswTw) He finds an audio clip and presses play, turning up the volume to hear it better. They fall silent as they listen intently, their eyes following along with the music in front of them as the audio plays.

When it comes to the end of the page, they both instinctually reach out to turn the page, but their hands just end up bumping in the process. Makoto pulls back, almost as if he had been burned. He didn’t mean to, really, he just felt really embarrassed that he got too excited. “S-Sorry!” He apologizes quickly.

Looking over at Haru, he sees him smile a bit, but it’s the smile that he saw before that’s almost like a smirk. While he didn’t laugh out loud, a puff of air came out of his nostrils in a quiet laugh. “It’s okay.” He says, turning the page for them himself. It takes them a second to find their place in the music since they were distracted for a second, and meanwhile Makoto feels like he just wants to sink into the ground because he’s so embarrassed.

The audio clip they found was actually around twelve minutes long, so they paused it about half way through just for the sake of time. “I like this one.” Haru says first, confidence in his voice.

Makoto’s body relaxes, relieved. “R-Really? Me too, actually. Beethoven has some really great duets for string instruments.”

Haru nods. “Yeah, he does.”

“So… are we going with this one?” Makoto quickly glances through the sheet music again, just to confirm to himself that he likes it just as much as he did when he looked through it the first time.

“Yeah, though it is over ten minutes long.” Haru points out, a bit worried.

Damn, he’s right. Their time limit set by Amakata was ten minutes or under. Hopefully she would make an exception. “That’s okay, we’ll show it to Amakata-sensei and see what she thinks. I mean, she is the one who put it in the pile to begin with.”

Haru hums in agreement, taking the music to look through it again. He picks up his pencil from his own stand, already going through the violin part to mark and circle things. It seems like such a habit now that Haru can’t stop himself from immediately going through and analyzing his part to avoid silly mistakes once they finally start practicing it. Makoto chuckles a bit under his breath and thankfully Haru doesn’t hear him.

“Oh, uh, Haru?”

Haru looks up and Makoto continues. “I was thinking that we should, um… Exchange numbers? Y’know, just in case we need to text each other about practicing at another time.”

“Oh, good idea.” Haru sets down his stuff, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone. Makoto quietly lets out a deep breath he didn’t even know he was holding. He’s so glad the other didn’t think it was a strange request. “Here, you can put in your number.” Haru says, handing off the blue device to Makoto. The brunet notices that it’s literally the same phone that he has, just a different color, which just amuses him for some reason. He adds his number and name before giving Haru his phone to do the same.

Once their contact information was exchanged, it was about the time where the rest of the band would start arriving. They didn’t get the chance to play together that morning, the process of picking out a duet taking longer than both of them had anticipated. Though Makoto feels satisfied with their choice, and he hopes Haru does too.

“Well, I’ll talk to you later?” Makoto asks, watching Haru gather all his things before standing.

“Yeah.” Haru avoids his eyes, instead focusing on the floor in front of him for a second. “Um, text me?” He says quietly, almost to the point where the brunet doesn’t hear him.

It’s a simple request, really, but it makes Makoto _smile_. The happiest and most sincere smile he’s smiled all morning. “Yes, definitely.”

Haru feels captivated for a second, suddenly not really interested in going back to his own seat. Why can’t the actual rehearsal start later? Eventually, he does slowly shuffle back over to his chair, his mind still on the tall boy sitting across the room.

Right as the band is getting settled down and the director is taking her spot on the podium; his phone vibrates in his pocket. Curiously, he pulls it out, and the screen displays a text message from Makoto. He pauses, staring at the notification for a second. His eyes dart up to the brunet, but he's not paying attention, instead just organizing his music. He looks back down at his phone and finally, his curiosity is too great and he unlocks the device to see the message.

From: Makoto

_See you on Monday, Haru! :)_

Haru’s suddenly thankful that Makoto's not looking at him because after he rereads the message a few times, his expression softens, and he smiles happily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs used in this chapter: 
> 
>  
> 
> [Godard: Aubade for Violin and Cello OP. 133, 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgq7usaMZCE)  
> [Johann Georg Duet for Violin and Cello No. 1 in C](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxPzW0Va8nM)  
> [Boccherini Duetto for Violin and Cello](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHuIpbvIm5Q)  
> [Johann Halvorsen Duo for Violin and Cello](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzdACqfQYhE)  
> [John Williams, Itzhak Perlman - Schindler's List (Violin)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueWVV_GnRIA)  
> [Ludwig van Beethoven Duet for Violin and Cello in C major](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQQZaXVswTw)
> 
>  
> 
> Songs are linked in the fanfic at the appropriate times when they are played/mentioned!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry in advance for the long note before the chapter, but I just wanted to apologize and clear up some things before I move on.
> 
> First of all, sorry for how long this chapter took to upload. Funnily enough it's been a WIP for literally months, but I just got so caught up in school that I just didn't have time to post anything for the whole semester. In regards to this story, I really want to finish it, but I've felt myself losing motivation, especially since I was so passionate for it the first few chapters. It's not really because I'm out of ideas (I have the whole fic planned) but I guess the lack of feedback has been discouraging me from spending my time to continue it, y'know? One of my new year's resolutions is to write more, but I want to try and write different things other than this.
> 
> So, bottom line is that the fate of this fic depends on how much people really want me to continue it, y'know? I have a lot planned for it and I feel like it won't disappoint (despite the slow beginning, it should pick up from here) so if you all are enjoying it PLEASE comment or at least give me some kudos! I can't guarantee fast updates but, if you want more chapters, they will come eventually. I hate to sound like I'm begging, but it really does mean a lot to me, especially since I write for fun and attention lol. 
> 
> Anyway, sorry for the REALLY long note, enjoy the chapter and check back for updates, if I get around to it!

At the beginning of the week, Haru couldn’t wait for the weekend but now that it’s finally here, he just wants it to be over. He never responded to Makoto’s text because, really, he had no idea what to say to it since it was pretty self-explanatory. That Friday night he practiced his violin for hours. He went through each page of their new duet, marking up the pages and practicing the various sections as if he were to memorize it by tomorrow. He was sweating from the humidity that was left behind from the rain that morning, constantly having to retune his violin due to the strings expanding and making it go sharp. Eventually, there were so many markings and notes written in his music that it started to clutter the whole page. Haru has met people who just seem to memorize what they need to do, mentally putting it on the page. He, however, likes to make it visual on his page, making sure that all his thoughts are in his vision in case he forgets them.

Throughout the day, various neighbors had left their windows open to let his playing drift into their houses. Even though Haru and his family have never met most of them before, they have fondness towards the teenage boy, especially since they've heard his playing drift through the neighborhood throughout his entire life. It was well after dark by the time he thought about stopping. His fingers were starting to cramp and his callouses ached more than usual. He sets the instrument down on his lap, rubbing at his eyes a bit. They were starting to burn from being focused for so long. He felt satisfied with his progress, putting away his violin back into its case with care and slipping his music back in its folder. As he’s setting his dinner on the table, his phone buzzes in his pocket. He sits down, retrieving it from his pocket, expecting a message from his parents or something. Though when the caller ID displays Makoto’s name, he sits up straighter, immediately invested. His thumb hovers over the message for a second before he finally taps it, the anticipation making his heart beat faster as he waits for the message to be displayed.

From: Makoto

What are you doing this weekend?

It’s a simple question, but the promise of seeing Makoto this weekend was enough for Haru to instantly start tapping in a response.

To: Makoto

Nothing.

His food, now forgotten, sits on the table in front of him and gets colder by the minute as he stares at the screen. When a couple minutes drag by a new message hasn’t appeared yet, he sighs quietly. Reluctantly, he locks his phone and drags the bowl of food in front of him closer. He slowly eats, chewing thoughtfully as he glances over at the phone every few seconds. What’s taking him so long to respond?

Finally, a buzz. He drops his chopsticks and opens the message.

From: Makoto

Want to practice this weekend?

Haru’s really glad that he spent so much time rehearsing their duet, because now they won’t have to spend too much time helping Haru through the tricky sections he’s already worked out.

To: Makoto

Where?

From: Makoto

Well, the school’s closed… Maybe at my house?

Haru purses his lips, not sure about that idea.

To: Makoto

Don’t you have siblings? You can come over here, if you want to.

When there isn’t an answer, Haru quickly sends another.

To: Makoto

I live alone so we wouldn’t be bothering anyone.

He bites his lip after he presses send, feeling like maybe that was a mistake. Would Makoto think he was being really weird and forward? That message probably sounds really bad out of context; he doesn’t want the other to think he’s just trying to get him alone in his house.

From: Makoto

Sounds good to me, just send me your address. How about tomorrow at 3?

Haru confirms the time and sends him his address.

From: Makoto

Hey, we live really close to each other! Just a couple minutes away! How cool is that? (＾▽＾)

The emoticon is cute and it makes the raven-haired boy smile just a little.

To: Makoto

Yeah, it is.

After that their conversation ceases, and Haru feels a little dazed. His first text claimed that he would see him on Monday, but I guess he wanted to take advantage of having the entire weekend to practice as well instead of only limiting their time to a few minutes in the morning. Setting his phone to the side, Haru finishes his food despite the butterflies in his stomach. He can’t stop thinking about tomorrow and their practice that lies ahead.

-

The next morning, Makoto sleeps in late. Despite his excitement for seeing Haru at 3, the week just took a toll on him and he easily slept until 10:30. He gets ready slowly that morning, feeling well-rested but also sluggish from sleeping so long. It reminds him of high school, in a way, since he would do something similar on the weekends after devoting his week to classes and studying. By the time he’s presentable and leaves his room, his whole family is already up and bustling around the house. Ren and Ran are in the kitchen, still dressed in their pajamas and eating a late breakfast. At least he didn’t sleep in too late, Makoto thinks, since it seems like his family has had a lazy morning as well. Walking in the kitchen, he mumbles a hello to his siblings and mother. His father sits in the living room with his breakfast, watching the news and checking his emails on his laptop.

“Good morning Mako!” His mother greets with a smile, setting down a plate of food for him on the table.

“Good morning.” He says, immediately digging in to the delicious breakfast.

“About time, we thought you were dead!” Ren tells him across the table with a laugh.

Ran makes a face beside him. “Gross, don’t talk with your mouth full.” She huffs and takes a bite of her own food, making a point to keep her mouth closed as she chews thoughtfully. Ren sticks his tongue out at her.

Makoto chuckles. “Honestly, I felt dead.” He responds to Ren.

“Mako, would you like some coffee?” His mom asks after she pours herself a cup.

He says yes, and she gets another mug for him before setting down the cup and creamer in front of him. He fixes his coffee the way he likes and takes a thoughtful sip, making a small hum with how satisfying it is.

“Mom, I want some coffee!” Ren protests annoyingly.

“Me too me too, I wanna try it!” Ran parrots.

“No, you are not having coffee. Drink your juice, coffee is for grown ups.”

They both “awww” and slump down in their seats.

Amused, Makoto offers his cup to them. “You can try it, if you want. You probably won’t like it though.”

As if his older brother had just challenged him, Ren takes the cup from Makoto. He gives it a small sniff first before carefully bringing the cup up to his lips, taking a cautious sip to not burn himself. Immediately, he makes a disgusted face and sets it down. “Bleh! Bitter!”

Makoto and their mom laugh. “Yeah, that’s the point.”

Ren pushes the cup back to Makoto’s side of the table, taking a drink of his sweet juice instead. “Grown ups drink the weirdest things.”

Makoto smiles at his sibling’s nonsense, resuming his cup of coffee in peace. As he’s eating, he keeps glancing over at his phone that he’s set next to his plate on the table. He’s not sure what he’s waiting for, really, since he and Haru had already made the plans for later that day. Though for some reason he just can’t help but keep checking, a small part of him worried that the raven-haired boy may cancel or something. If Makoto is being honest, he’s surprised the Haru even accepted his request to practice on the weekend. He had been debating sending that text for hours before he actually did it, and ever since he got a response he’s felt light and airy.

“Mako, why do you keep looking at your phone?”

Startled out of his thoughts, Makoto looks up at his mother who has now joined them all at the table, her second cup of coffee cradled gently in her hands. It’s in a mug that Ran had painted for her as a school project.

“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing…” He clears his throat awkwardly, taking another bite of bacon.

She raises an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Yeah, I’m just… I’m going to practice later with Haru. For our duet.” He clarifies.

“On the weekend?” She presses.

“Yeah, I mean, why not? It’s a pretty long piece; we want to make sure we’re prepared for the concerts in a few weeks.”

She nods in understanding. “Okay sweetie, just don’t overwork yourself.”

“You’re gonna spend your weekend playing your boring instrument?” Ren cuts in, “I’m gonna spend my day playing video games!” Next to him, Ran rolls her eyes.

“Onii-chan’s instrument isn’t boring, it’s cool!” His sister defends him, crossing her arms.

“Not as cool as video games.”

Makoto knows better than to ever get offended when Ren says anything, because he never really means it. He’s in that weird stage where hating on everything is “cool”, but in reality Makoto knows that Ren looks up to him very much. He actually catches him watching him practice from the doorway sometimes, but when confronted, he’ll always deny it and go do something else. It’s just funny to Makoto now, and he just goes along with it. “I’d agree with that.”

After that, the family finishes their breakfast (or brunch really) and all help clean up. Ren and Ran disperse to go do their own things and Makoto checks the time. It’s only a bit after eleven, too early to get ready to go to Haru’s. He still felt antsy, though, and he quietly slips away from the kitchen to his own room and closes the door behind him with a soft click. Sitting at his desk, he opens his laptop, once again searching Haru’s performance videos on YouTube again. He doesn’t exactly watch any all the way through, instead just sort of browsing. He still wants to find out what happened between the two most recent performances because, while one he seemed just as invested and happy as the rest, the last he was… out of it. Maybe Makoto would get the courage to ask him some day, but it may be a personal matter, because ever since this last uploaded performance he hasn’t been in any competitions or concerts since. _I wonder how he feels about the duet?_ Makoto thinks, biting his lip in worry. He doesn’t want to make him do anything he doesn’t want. Though, Haru does seem like the type to make it very obvious if that were the case, and he did seem genuinely excited, so maybe Makoto’s just overthinking it. Exiting out of YouTube, he closes his laptop. Might as well pass the time by practicing in preparation for later, since the brunet hasn’t gotten a chance to since he’s been home for the weekend.

-

After practicing for a while (with the occasional interruption from his family, though that’s normal) it was nearly 3, and he was suddenly _a lot_ more nervous than he was earlier. He puts away his cello with shaky hands, checking the watch on his wrist every few minutes. According to the address that Haru had sent him, he literally only lived a few minutes away. How have they not seen each other before? Did he also go to Iwatobi high? He honestly had so many questions that he wasn’t sure if he was ever really going to be able to ask the black-haired boy.

After giving himself another look in the mirror and straightening up his outfit, he was ready. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. He hasn’t felt like this when meeting with someone (especially a guy) in a really long time, and it made his cheeks warm up a bit in embarrassment. He felt like he was sixteen again preparing for a date, and this wasn’t even _anything_ like that.

His cello case, since it’s so large, is equipped with some wheels which makes it a little easier to drag around with him when he has to take it places. If Haru’s place was any further away, he probably would have asked if Haru would come to his house anyway despite Ren and Ran. With a little difficulty, he maneuvers the cello through the doorway and the narrow hallway all the way out through the living room to the front door. His father, still on his laptop, looks up at him. “Practice?” He asks curtly.

“Yep. I’ll be back… Well, I’m not sure, actually. I’ll text you or mom.” He says, putting his shoes on at the door.

His father nods, turning his attention back to his work. “Whatever you want to do Makoto. You’re an adult now, I trust you to contact us if needed.”

“Right, of course” Makoto is so used to his mother’s being overly worried about them that he forgets that he really doesn’t have to check in all the time like Ren and Ran. It’s just another habit to be broken, he guesses. “I’ll see you later, tell mom and the twins I say bye.”

“Will do.”

Tucking his music folder under his arm, he wheels out the cello behind him onto the narrows streets of Iwatobi. Checking the address for the last time, he starts walking towards Haru’s after sending him a text.

-

Haru’s phone buzzes and he pauses what he’s doing to check it. It’s a text from Makoto just letting him know that he’s on his way, and will be there within five minutes. All morning Haru had been pacing around his house, making sure things were cleaned up which wasn’t a hard task, really. Since Haru’s parents rarely visit anymore, the house is pretty bare since it’s just Haru living there. He uses the empty living space to his advantage though; bringing in another chair and an extra music stand he had in his room for Makoto to use. He’s not sure if he was going to bring his own anyway, but he thought it would be nice to set it up just in case. Despite the decent weather, Haru also shuts the sliding doors to the outside, figuring the acoustics would be a bit better if the sound had an even amount of wall to jump off of.

Just as moves the last box from the middle of the room to the wall, his doorbell rings, and his heart jumps into his throat. He shakes his head a bit, mentally reminding himself that there’s nothing to be nervous about. It’s just like every other day they practice except for it’s just at his house instead. Making his way through the house, he gets to the front door. With a tiny deep breath, he opens the door to see Makoto waiting patiently with his cello behind him.

He smiles that smile upon seeing Haru. “Hey, Haru~” He greets with a wave.

“Hey.” He responds. There’s a couple seconds of awkward silence as they stand there, not sure what to say next. To avoid this, Haru wordlessly steps aside to indicate that Makoto could come in. The brunet mumbles a thank you, wheeling in the cello behind him with a bit of difficulty. Haru helps as Makoto takes his shoes off at the threshold, hoisting up the large instrument over the one step into the rest of the house. Since he’s done that much already, Haru just continues to wheel it into the living room, the wheels loud on the wood floors. Next to the chair that he had set up earlier, he sets down the case on the ground, making sure to be extra careful and as gentle as possible. String instruments are worth too much money to be careless.

Makoto trails behind him slowly, taking his time to observe his surroundings. Haru’s house was way bigger than he originally expected, especially since Haru had told him he lived alone. Though the lack of furniture would also contribute to the illusion of how much space there is, especially in the living room. The lack of furniture was made up for in the amount of boxes, most of which had been scooted to the wall to make room for other things. While Makoto didn't want to be nosy and look in the boxes, he can see some things poking out of them, some of which seem to be large trophies. He obviously can't see what they're for exactly, but he guesses they're for all the competitions he's won. It really was impressive, and that's only considering the small ones he  _can_  see. He hopes he has another opportunity to come again sometime and maybe Haru will actually let him look through the trophies. His curiosity is really getting the best of him.

“You have a really nice place…” He says out loud, sitting in the chair that the other had brought out for him. “You said you live here by yourself?”

Sitting next to him, Haru opens his violin case. “Yeah. Technically it’s my parents’ house but they’re always away for work.”

_Interesting…_ the brunet thinks and nods.

They both go quiet for a minute as they both bring up their instruments and start tuning, adjusting the strings and playing quick warm ups. Once they’re all set, they bring out their individual music for their duet and stare at the first page for a brief second, just scanning and processing all the work ahead of them.

“So…” Makoto began, a bit awkwardly. “I guess we’ll start from the top, maybe sight read the best we can?”

Haru almost laughed at the mention of sight reading, since he had already practiced this piece for hours on end the day before. “Have you practiced at all?” He asks, though he tries to make sure it doesn’t come off as accusing.

“Yeah, a little bit yesterday and today. I didn’t want to be completely unprepared. What about you?”

“Um, yeah, I’ve practiced a little bit too…”

Makoto raises an eyebrow at the hesitant response. Looking over at Haru’s music, that’s when he _really_ sees what’s on the page, and his eyes widen in response. He sees the many markings and notes in the margins on the page, _almost_ to the point where it seems cluttered. Though Haru managed to fill in everything he needed while still keeping the page organized and neat.

“O-Oh my God, Haru, that’s a lot more than just “a little bit”, is the whole song marked up like this?” In disbelief, he reaches over and grabs Haru’s music, flipping through the pages frantically. While there were obviously less notes towards the end of the song, it was definitely apparent that the black-haired boy had already spent a lot of time practicing and marking up his music.

“It’s really not that big of a deal, I just… Felt like practicing so I focused on this yesterday, just to be prepared.”

“Well, I say you’re more than prepared now…” The taller trails off, feeling embarrassed from the lack of practicing he’s done compared to Haru.

The violinist glances at him, watching Makoto shift uneasily after he puts his music back on his own stand. He bites his lip, not wanting the brunet to feel any sort of guilt for not practicing as much as he had so far. “Hey, it’s okay if you haven’t practiced much.” He tells him seriously. Makoto’s green eyes shift from the floor to his face, seeming surprised.

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I just don’t have anything else to do besides practice most of the time, so I wasn’t expecting you to have the entire piece mastered before you got here.” He picks up Makoto’s music from his stand, flipping through it. In the first few pages were briefly marked up in the margins, though that’s normal for Makoto since he’s not one to write as much as Haru. The pages were still marked, which says something on its own; Makoto had definitely not come over to practice completely unprepared. “You’ve practiced.” He announces simply.

The brunet takes back his music when Haru holds it out for him and still feels unsure about the amount of progress he’s made compared to his partner. He sighs, knowing that there’s nothing that can really be done about it, even if he still can’t help but feel embarrassed. “Just a little bit today…”

“And that’s enough,” Haru brings up his violin, running a couple tuning notes again, “for now.” He adds with a little smirk.

That lightened the mood a bit, and Makoto finds the smile infectious, despite the smugness behind it. He smiles too, showing his teeth and holding back a small laugh as he brings up his cello. Haru feels his face heat up at Makoto’s smile and he turns away towards his music instead. “So, from the top?”

“Yep, let’s do it.”

\--

The next couple hours are nothing but hardcore practice. If this were a normal rehearsal the time would have dragged, but before they knew it it was basically dinner time and the summer sun was slowly starting to set. The gap between Haru and Makoto’s playing level was apparent as usual, though Haru remained so patient and helped the brunet through anything that he needed. Not to mention that Haru had a few more hours of practice under his belt, but Makoto is not far behind him. He picked up corrections and the different sections quickly, much to their delight. While they managed to get through the entire piece a couple times, they only got through a few pages in great detail since the entire song is about twelve minutes long. They finish the current section they’ve been working on before relaxing from their playing positions, stretching a bit.

“Jeez, my back hurts…” The brunet says, stretching back over his chair with a yawn.

“Mhmm…” He agrees and sets down his violin in his lap for a couple minutes. He has a feeling that their practice session is coming to a close, but he doesn’t want Makoto to leave. He knows that they wouldn’t practice the entire day, but it just feels like the time went by too fast and that he wants an excuse to keep the brunet for longer.

Next to him, Makoto’s phone buzzes in his pocket and he takes it out to check. He presses a few buttons and scans the message he receives, looking deep in thought. He locks his phone, not responding as he puts it back in his pocket of his jeans.

Haru raises an eyebrow. “Who was that?”

“Oh, uh, just a friend, nothing important. Is there anything else you wanted to go over in the song?”

Haru ignores the question, “Which friend? From orchestra?”

“Yeah. Well, kind of, it’s Nagisa.”

Haru cocks his head, “Nagisa? Is that the short blond guy?”

Makoto chuckles, “Yeah, that’s him.”

“Does he play an instrument?”

“No, he’s actually just a manager for the orchestra. He helps Amakata-sensei plan performances and other things like that. He’s also uh… good friends with Rei, who you’ve already met.”

Haru narrows his eyes a bit, thinking that that’s an awfully strange job. He guesses it’s the same thing as the director having an assistant, but in this case it’s just another student. “He’s also the one who asked me to lunch, right?”

“Oh uh, y-yeah… Sorry about that, by the way.” He apologizes uneasily.

“It’s fine… Um, sorry that I said no. We just hadn’t talked much at that point and I didn’t want things to be… awkward, I guess.”

“No no it’s fine! I was kinda upset he didn’t ask me first but it’s not that big of a deal.” He laughs a bit. There’s an awkward moment of silence and it’s still apparent that Haru feels bad about turning down the offer. “Well, um, Haru… If you still feel bad about not joining us, Nagisa actually just texted me about hanging out later tonight with Rei so, you’re always welcome to come with us. It would be fun!” Makoto offers to the black haired boy. He really has no idea if the other would be interested, especially since Nagisa’s first offer was turned down. Though they really had fun today practicing and, even if the brunet hasn’t known the other for long now, he feels like they’ve connected in some way.

Haru doesn’t answer right away as he thinks it over, which Makoto takes as a good sign. After being conflicted for a second, the other sighs quietly. “Sure, I’ll go.”

“W-Wait, really? You want to go?”

“Sure… why not?”

Makoto smiles brightly, feeling even more excited for the Saturday night that lay ahead of them. “Great, I’ll let them know!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the weird way this chapter ended, but I just wanted to get it out to you guys as soon as possible. Please comment and/or kudo if you want more. Thank you for all your support so far, I will update on whether or not I am dropping this fic soon (though I'm leaning towards continuing it for now). Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellooo everyone!
> 
> I got the next chapter up, yay! It’s currently two in the morning and I have stuff to do tomorrow, but I just couldn’t wait another second to upload! There’s no musical stuff in this chapter, but it’s super important for Haru and Makoto. We finally know just what the hell Haru’s deal is LOL I hope you guys like it!
> 
> And once again thank you so so so soooooo much for all the comments and kudos!! I am SO HAPPY with the feedback I’ve gotten, it makes me so excited! I was afraid I was being desperate in my last notes, but I’m serious when I say these comments and kudos help me update SO MUCH faster. Has it even been a week? Idk anymore lol. 
> 
> Anyway, this is probably going to be the last chapter uploaded before I go back to school, so unfortunately I don’t know how quickly new chapters will come. Though more comments and kudos will DEFINITELY speed up the process, if you know what I mean ;)
> 
> Thank you everyone for the overwhelming support and I hope you love Makoto’s realization >:D

Makoto responds to Nagisa that Haru’s coming along with them, and already he’s really nervous and slightly regretting agreeing to go. While he does want to spend more time with Makoto, he’s also afraid of being the only one not in the friend group and being left out. It’s a pretty childish thing to really be scared of but it doesn’t really matter how old you are, it’s still one of the most awkward positions to ever be in.

“He says they’re ready to go now, if that’s okay with you. I can just give them your adress instead of mine.” Makoto says, clicking his cello case shut for the night.

Haru has already put away his violin, which lays on the ground next to his chair. “Yeah, that’s fine.” There’s a couple seconds of awkward silence as the brunet forwards the message with his adress he had sent him earlier to Nagisa. “So... is it just Rei and Nagisa?”

Makoto smiles slightly and holds back a laugh. “Yeah, just them. They’re pretty much the only good friends I’ve kept through high school.”

Haru finds that statement both relatable and unrelatable. Not having many (or any) friends has kind of become his forte over the years. “Okay. Where are we going?”

Makoto shrugs. “I don’t know, really... I usually just meet up with them and whatever Nagisa has in mind I just go along with.” He says, almost with an apologetic expression as Haru’s eyebrows furrow together. “I think there’s a festival thing in town. He had mentioned that he wanted to go earlier so I assume that’s what we’re doing.”

_Okay, I can work with that_ , Haru thinks, making a mental note to remember to bring his wallet with some cash for admission. It had been years since Haru had gone to any kind of festival and, really, they’ve never been his thing. Being outside with crowds of people to do nothing but walk around and eat food didn’t really appeal to him. He wasn’t about to let that attitude get in the way of this night, he argues with himself. He’s missed having a friend to talk to and invite him to places, so maybe this trip with Makoto and his friends will open his eyes to the normally “fun” things hes been missing out on for years now.

“Is that okay with you?” Makoto asks, not fully understanding Haru’s silence.

He has to remind himself that the brunet can’t read his mind, as much as he wants him to. “Yeah, that’s fine. Let me go get my wallet.” He gets up from the chair, his joints cracking in protest from being the same position so long. He brings his instrument and folder, planning to put them away while he’s in there too. Putting his stuff back where it belongs, he picks up his wallet that lays on his desk and places it in his pocket. He doesn’t go back to the living room immediately, taking a small deep breath as he stares at himself in the mirror in the corner of his room. He supposes he looks alright, wearing just a T-shirt, shorts, and his worn down shoes. It’s not the best he’s ever looked but, who is he trying to impress anyway...?

He temporarily embarrasses himself for even caring what he looks like, it’s not like it’s a date or anything... a knock can be heard at the front door and he swiftly leaves his room, closing the door behind him to douse the space in darkness. He quickly makes his way back to the living room as Makoto’s approaching the door, looking over his shoulder to smile at the black-haired boy. “They’re here. Are you ready?”

With a nod, he lingers behind the taller as he approaches the door. When it’s opened, the short blond and Rei stand together, smiling. Nagisa is the first to greet them, waving enthusiastically. “Hi!~”

Makoto and Haru both step out of the house and the raven-haired boy shuts the door behind them, making sure it’s locked and secured. “Hey guys.” The brunet answers with that nice smile Haru has become more and more acquianted with.

“Haru-chan! I’m so glad you’re coming with us!” Nagisa says, hopping up and down on the balls of his feet with excitement.

Next to him, Rei nods. “Me too, I hope you enjoy yourself with us, Haruka-san.” He says in a formal manner, bowing just slightly.

Makoto sure does hang out with interesting people, Haru thinks, not sure if he’ll ever get used to the way Nagisa and Rei act. “Thanks. Also you can just call me Haru...” he would say Haruka but, if Makoto already calls him Haru, he figures it’s okay if his friends do the same. He just hopes the shortest drops the -chan, it makes Haru’s eye twitch every time he hears it.

The two nod in agreement, and finally Nagisa begins leading the group down the street away from Haru’s house. “Sooo, what’re you guys doing hanging out on a Saturday?” He asks, and Haru thinks he sees Nagisa look over at Makoto in a teasing manner.

Makoto blushes, and he’s so glad it’s night time and no one will be able to see. “We were just practicing for the duet Amakata-sensei gave us, is all.”

“On a Saturday?” Nagisa responds, almost scandalized at the mere thought.

Makoto shrugs a shoulder. “Why not?”

“Blehhh, that’s so boring.” The other sticks his tongue out in distaste. “You two better not be turning into Rei-chan, he’s always doing boring stuff on the weekends. Playing his instrument and studying, always!” He exlaims with a huff.

Next to him, Rei scoffs. “The weekend doesn’t automatically mean you can goof off and neglect your responsibilities, Nagisa-kun! If I were you I’d maybe utilize my time more efficiently on the weekends. You sleep in so late and get nothing done before the week starts.” He argues, though more in a teasing and good-natured way. There’s really no bite to his words.

“Well, at least I know how to have fun, Rei-chan. You’re always a buzz-kill.” The blond teases, reaching up to poke at the taller boy’s cheek as they walk. Rei just crosses his arms in a pout, letting the other continue to prod at his cheek.

They must be _really_ good friends, if not more... Haru thinks, putting his hands in the pockets of his shorts. He’s noticed how close they were in the band room already, but being with them in person and seeing them interact more often really confirms his suspicions. He glances over at Makoto, who’s just listening to his friends bickering and laughing when appropriate. He happens to look over at the same time too, making eye contact with the other. Haru quickly avoids his eyes to stare at the ground.

“Sorry if they’re really energetic, they’ve always been like that.” He apologizes with a chuckle, just loud enough so Haru could hear but the boys in front of them couldn’t.

Haru shakes his head, “It’s okay, I don’t mind.” He really doesn’t, actually. He’s so used to living in a quiet surrounding because of his parents being gone and having no siblings, so the noise was nice once in awhile.

“Okay, good. If you ever, like... want to go home because you’re uncomfortable or anything, it’s completely fine, don’t feel bad...” Makoto says carefully, like he was afraid.  Haru is a bit surprised and looks back at the brunet’s face, watching him fixate on the ground and bite his lip nervously.

It feels nice that he’s looking out for him, but Haru doesn’t want him to think he’s ever a burden. He quickly shakes his head, his gaze dropping down as well. “It’s really okay, Makoto, I wanted to come.” He says truthfully. Even though they haven’t really done anything, just getting to know Makoto and his friends more has been entertaining so far. And he has the whole night ahead of them to know even more.

The cellist relaxes, and his worried expression is replaced with a genuine smile. His green eyes look at Haru, the slight downturn of their shape making them give off a gentle vibe. “Okay Haru, if you say so. I’m glad you decided to come.”

Haru’s own eyes can’t help but stare into the other’s for a second, all the sudden feeling butterflies in his stomach from the nice and answer. He glances away quickly in the opposite direction, looking over the houses to the ocean. “It’s really nothing.”

Makoto laughs and looks forward again, listening in on Rei and Nagisa’s conversation to contribute to it. Haru doesn’t speak up, but he feels comfortable around the three friends as they walk through the streets of Iwatobi to their destination.

—

As they approach the festival, the sidewalks get more crowded and excited chatter can be heard all around. The roads are lit by the street lights and lanterns, casting a golden glow onto the group of boys. The air smells of salt water from the ocean and the various fried foods in the distance, the sound of the steady waves setting a white noise in the background. Haru stares out at it as they walk, admiring the reflection of the moon and stars on the surface of the water. He really needs to swim in the ocean again soon, he hasn’t gotten a chance yet since he started the orchestra program. The breeze ruffles his hair and a couple girls in yukatas run by laughing, really solidifying the atmosphere of the festival.

“Haru?... Haaaru?”

He snaps back to reality, looking towards the brunet next to him. Makoto smiles, “You were spaced out for a second.”

“Oh, uh... Sorry.”

The other chuckles and Nagisa jumps around to face them, walking backwards as he talks. “Hey, Haru-chan! What are you going to eat first, huh? Fried squid? Takoyaki? Candy apple? I’m going to eat something at every booth we pass!”

Somehow he doubts that, given how small Nagisa is. He thinks for a second, his stomach conicidentally growling at the thought of food. “I want mackerel.”

The other raises an eyebrow. “Ehhh? Mackerel? That’s so boring Haru-chan!”

Haru sneers, crossing his arms in protest.

“Nagisa-kun, don’t be rude. Some of us don’t have a bottomless stomach like you do.” Rei pipes up, grabbing the other’s shoulder so he’ll face forward before he ends up falling.

“I wasn’t being rude, I’m just saying!”

Makoto laughs, patting Haru’s shoulder beside him. “He’s just messing with you. Though Rei’s right, Nagisa can eat an ungodly amount of food for how short he is.” He takes his hand away and while Haru should respond, he’s too distracted for a second by how his shoulder was warmed by Makoto’s friendly pat  

Haru hadn’t taken anything the blond said personally, but he does relax when knowing it’s just friendly banter. “I’d actually like to see that for myself.” He says. If Nagisa really can eat something from every booth, that’d be an amazing sight, and Haru wants to witness it.

They finally enter the actual festival, the lanters glowing brightly as booths line each side of the road. Nagisa jumps on his feet excitedly, his eyes practically sparkling as he decides which side to choose first. “Oh, this way!” He exclaims, grabbing onto Rei’s hand and dragging him to the right abruptly.

The blue-haired boy makes a noise in protest, but effectively gets swallowed by the crowd as Nagisa tears him away from Haru and Makoto. They’re gone before the two can even process what happened and Makoto scans the crowd, only barely spotting them across the road because of his height advantage.

Nagisa approaches the booth he dragged Rei to, waiting until he’s sure that the others haven’t followed them before stopping. Rei is panting a bit from the running and dodging through the throngs of people, absolutely bewildered at his boyfriend’s actions. “Nagisa-kun, what on Earth was that for...?!”

“Rei-chan, isn’t it obvious?! I had to ditch them!”

The blue-haired boy raises an eyebrow, wrenching his hand out of the other’s to adjust his red glasses. “Why? I thought we were supposed to all hang out together?”

Magenta eyes roll, exasperated that Rei obviously isn’t seeing what’s going on here. “Mako-chan likes him, I just know it! We had to ditch them so they could be alone and hang out together.”

Rei purses his lips, admittedly feeling kind of annoyed. “Nagisa-kun, you don’t even know that! He could just be making a new friend, and they’ve only known each other for a week.” Rei argues.

Nagisa’s enthusiasm deflates a bit, wringing his hands as he stares down at the ground for a second. “I’m telling you Rei-chan, I just have a feeling... and even if they are just friends and he isn’t interested, then they can still take this time to hang out one-on-one. I’m sorry Rei-chan, I just really want Mako-chan to be happy. He just seems really into Haru-chan, who knows what will happen?”

The taller sighs, shaking his head. He can’t help but lighten up, smiling at the blond. “I know what you mean, Nagisa-kun. We’ll leave them be for now. But we can’t avoid them all night, and next time don’t seem so rude.” He scolds without much bite, just enough of it so Nagisa knows he’s serious.

The blond’s previous excitement comes back and he’s grinning again. “Yeah, yeah! I promise!”

“Alright. So... are we still getting food? I’m really hungry.” Rei says and Nagisa laughs, grabbing his hand. He agrees and they go to find a food booth.

Back towards the entrance, Haru and Makoto are still staring off in the direction where Nagisa and Rei disappeared. “Where did they go?” Makoto asks, not particularly to anyone.

Haru, surprised too, can only shrug.

Makoto takes out his phone, sending a quick text to the two asking where they were. He figured they were too far to meet back up immediately, so he adds that they could probably see each other later before the fireworks. In the meantime, he’ll just have to be alone with Haru, which both excites and terrifies him. He has a feeling that Nagisa had done this on purpose, just to get them alone together. It’s frustrating, Makoto won’t lie, but a part of him was also hoping he’d get some time alone with the violinist at the beginning of the night. Maybe that makes him weird, cause he has no idea how Haru feels about the whole thing. “Um,” he begins, a little uncertain, “he says they just went to a specific booth for something and they’ll catch up with us later. Is that okay with you...?”

_Yes yes yes!_ Haru immediately thinks, though he has enough sense to not give away his true feelings on his face. “Yeah, that’s perfectly fine.” He says coolly.

Makoto smiles with a laugh. “Well good! So, is there anything you want to do first?”

Admitting he’s actually pretty hungry, the two walk off together to get some food and make small talk along the way.

—

It’s been about an hour, and the two are full and satisfied from the festival food. They haven’t talked much, just conversing about rehearsals and their duet as they walked and ate. Makoto wants to ask more personal questions, but he’s really trying not to scare Haru away. Thankfully Haru does actually seem to having a good time, even snickering when Makoto had accidentally dripped some sauce onto his shirt earlier. The brunet was embarrassed and blushed profusely, but he didn’t mind too much because he got to see Haru laugh. Makoto is starting to find it dangerous that he’s almost willing to do anything to see Haru laugh and smile more.

“So, anything else you want to do?” Makoto asks after a few minutes of walking in silence. While the first couple days of knowing each other were expectedly awkward, Makoto actually finds the silence between him and Haru comfortable most of the time. It’s really nice, he thinks. It makes him forget that they actually _don’t_ know each other well yet. They’ve just spent most of their time together working and playing instruments so perhaps that has something to do with it? Regardless, he’s having fun, and that’s all that matters.

Haru glances around, glad that it’s gotten later and there aren’t as many people anymore. Or they’ve just relocated to find a good spot to watch the fireworks later. In the distance he spots a goldfish catching activity and he points to it to get Makoto’s attention. “What about that?”

Makoto nods quickly, “yeah, sure!”

They walk over to the booth, getting their bowls and watching the small fish swim around the pool. Makoto watches Haru from the corner of his eye, noticing the black-haired boy seems so... calm and relaxed, compared to before. “Do you like fishing?” He asks out loud, his curiosity getting the best of him.

Haru shakes his head, his blue eyes reflecting the ripples of the pool. “No... I just really like water.” He admits.

Makoto finds that unexected, and funny, honestly, but he resists the chuckle that threatened to bubble up. “Water? Are you a swimmer?”

“Yeah. But I only swim free.”

“Really, freestyle? Were you on a team or anything? Are you... y’know, any good?” He hopes that the wording of that question didn’t sound offensive.

“Actually, yeah, you could say that. I used to be on a team in middle school. But it was at the community pool, not at school.”

“Oh, cool! I actually used to swim too.”

Suddenly, Makoto had Haru’s completely undivided attention. The pool of water and the small fish are forgotten as he abruptly turns to look at Makoto right in the eyes. The brunet swears he even sees the blue eyes sparkle with interest, as absolutely corny as that sounds. “What stroke?”

Makoto laughs for real this time, his eyes closing from how wide he smiles. “Backstroke!”

“Woah... were you any good?” He asks.

“Um, yeah, I guess I was! I was in a few competitions and my times were good. I tried to swim in high school with my friends, but unfortunately we didn’t get enough members to start an official club... we still practiced together sometimes, though. And I guess I was too busy with cello anyway, so I kind of sacrificed swimming for orchestra.”

With that last statement, Haru’s bright and excited expression seems to deteriorate. He breaks eye contact with the brunet, staring back down at the fish. “Yeah, I know how that is...”

Makoto purses his lips, afraid he said something wrong. “Did you... did you swim in high school at all?”

Haru shakes his head. “No. I stopped swimming with a team after middle school, to focus on violin.”

“Oh, okay...”

There’s an awkward silence for a second as Makoto dips his bowl in the water, trying to get a fish. They evade him, but he just continues trying to occupy himself through the silence. The water is cool and soothing against his hand as it trails through the water. He didn’t want to push Haru anymore and figured he’d talk if he really wanted to.

“I feel like I should’ve probably continued swimming instead though...” Haru mumbles, also running his bowl through the water in the slight chance of scooping up one of the small creatures scattering through the water.

“Why’s that?” Makoto asks, focusing on the boy next to him again.

Haru takes a deep breath, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. “Let’s just say that I had more of a future in swimming than violin, even though I thought the opposite at first.”

Makoto wonders how good Haru must have been at swimming then. He really wishes he could’ve seen the other swim, even just once, especially in his prime. The brunet wants to ask a questions that’s been nagging at him for awhile and, even though he’s afraid it could be too personal, he’s not sure if they’d ever talk about this again, so it’s now or never. “Hey, Haru...” he starts nervously, waiting for the other to give him his attention. When he has it, he sighs, “Why did you quit competitions? Ever since Rei told me about it I’ve been wondering.” He wants to add that he had a good thing going and if he had continued onto one more competition, he could’ve really broken through and be recognized as a prodigy. He’s already overstepping boundaries though and doesn’t want to push his luck.

Haru purses his lip, mentally trying to decide just how much information he wants to share. He’s already said a lot already and, he can trust Makoto. Or at least he thinks he can. “When I was younger I was always balancing swimming and violin, but I just had more of a natural talent for swimming.” He looks up from the fish now, instead staring straight ahead of them out over the ocean. “I had a... friend? Maybe rival, depending how you look at. I had someone I swam with who was really determined to go pro, and we always swam and raced each other.” He can feel Makoto’s stare on him as he continues, “I would actually win all the time, believe it or not. It made him mad, but I think he also enjoyed the competition too and he always talked about how we would both go pro and even make it to the olympics someday.”

Makoto raised his eyebrows in surprise. The olympics? That’s not something to take lightly.

“But I just... didn’t want to swim as a career because I didn’t want it to become a chore. I just wanted to swim free. But when it came to violin, I felt like I wanted to come out on top, to be _good_. Swimming was for fun and violin was something to be serious about.”

“And what changed that?” Makoto was so invested now, absolutely mesmerized by Haru’s story. He talked quietly and steadily, really captivating him.

“Well... my grandma was actually the one who encouraged me to start playing violin. My parents were supportive too, but my grandma was actually the one to teach me. Her primary instrument wasn’t even violin, but she did her best. She actually specialized in piano and accompanied me in all my competitions.”

Makoto has an idea of where this is going and his expression begins to fall, his chest already starting to ache for what’s about to come.

“And, well, she suddenly got sick over a year ago and died not long after that.” Haru has had enough time to mourn, so while he doesn’t feel like as if he’s going to cry or anything, he does have to swallow the lump in his throat. “I just kind of lost all my momentum after that. I didn’t get along well with any other accompanists. They didn’t like the way I made some of the music my own, instead scolding me and forcing me to be completely loyal to the sheet music. There’s nothing really wrong with that, really, and judges still found my playing impressive, but it just didn’t feel right anymore.”

“Oh, Haru... I-I’m so sorry...” Makoto mumbles quietly.

“It’s okay... not only did I end up severing my ties with swimming professionally, but now I don’t even have the motivation to pursue violin any further. With my grandma gone, it just doesn’t feel like the right thing to do anymore. It’s not even like I was super close to her, but I guess we just bonded over something, especially since my parents are never really around. It was nice.”

“Haru, I really had no idea...” Makoto speaks up, floored by the information he just learned. He knew something was off about the whole situation and now that he knows, he almost wishes he didn’t ask. The other seems closed off more than before, despite just opening up to him about something really personal.

Haru lets out a breath, shrugging one shoulder to shift the mood. “Nothing can be done about it now. It sucks that I don’t have a plan moving forward, but I can find something to do eventually.”

Makoto’s not really sure if Haru even believes his own words by the way his eyes stare ahead blankly, and the brunet just can’t stand for that. “You can still do anything you want, Haru.” He states boldly, slightly startling the other. “Your playing is amazing. Sure you’re not at the level of prodigy yet, but you have the potential. If you wanted you could practice more and finally reach that level. I can see it happening.”

Haru stares at him, mouth agape in shock at Makoto’s stern tone.

“And even though I’ve never seen you swim, you probably have the potential to do that too. Even though we’re both graduated and you don’t have the opportunity to get scouted anymore, you can still apply at a college. If you get in you can show them what you can really do which can hopefully lead to professional training.”

Makoto looks so determined and passionate for him, making Haru swallow around the lump in his throat again. They both know it really doesn’t work that way. They both know, and yet Makoto is still cheering him on and really believes in him. It was moving, if Haru was willing to admit that. It causes the black-haired boy to relax and a real, calm smile overtakes his features. “Thanks, Makoto.” He says sincerely, not breaking his gaze with the brunet.

Makoto feels like his heart is going to burst and he’s unfortunately forced to look away or else Haru would definitely see his whole face get red. “You’re welcome, Haru...” he looks back down at the small pool and runs the bowl through the water again, finally picking up a couple fish. That makes him smile even wider, holding it out to Haru to see. “Look, I got some.”

Haru nods in acknowledgement, also getting some after a couple more tries. They’re all brightly colored and swimming around the small space. “Did you want mine?” Haru asks.

“Wha? Really? You don’t mind?”

“You can have them. I don’t have a tank or anything.”

Makoto grins excitedly. “Sure. Thanks, Haru.” They get someone to bring them the bags full of water and Makoto puts the fish in. “I actually love fish. I’ve had a few as I’ve grown out.”

“Works out perfectly, then.”

Makoto nods and suddenly, they hear the squeal of a firework being shot up into the air and it explodes into bright colors. The people around them “ooh” and “ahh” at the them, stopping in the street to watch. Makoto and Haru go back onto the road and watch from where they stand, enjoying the show before ultimately meeting back with Nagisa and Rei to head home.

—

“Bye Mako-chan! Bye Haru-chan! I hope you guys had fun, but especially Haru-chan!” Nagisa yells to them, waving his arm excitedly as the two make their way back home. Haru confirms he did with a nod and a wave, watching Nagisa and Rei go down the road to the train station together.

It’s just Haru and Makoto again, walking down the dark streets to their houses. The night has been nicely cool, never once being uncomfortably hot. Makoto holds the fish in the baggy in his hand, occasionally raising them up to admire them and make sure they’re still okay.

“Um...” Haru starts, getting Makoto’s attention. “Thanks for inviting me.” He says genuinely, looking down at the ground.

“Thanks for coming, Haru! I’m glad you came.” There’s a pause between them. “Um, Haru... I hope that I didn’t overstep my boundaries when it came to talking tonight. I didn’t want you to say anything you didn’t want to tell me and I want to make sure we’re still... cool, I guess?”

Haru smirks a bit at the phrasing, glad the darkness is shadowing his expression. “Who are you, Nagisa? Yes, Makoto, it’s fine.”

Makoto breathes a sigh of relief. “Good, I just wanted to make sure.”

They finally arrive in front of Makoto’s house. All the lights are off inside so the brunet knows to be quiet when going inside. They stop in front of the door, still lingering for a second. They want to say something and they’re waiting for one or the other to speak first.

Makoto takes a chance and is the one to speak. “Once again, thanks for telling me all that, Haru. And I’m sorry about your grandma.”

“It’s okay. I’m actually a bit glad I told you. I haven’t really told anyone about my situation. I’ve kind of told my parents about it, but obviously not everything.”

“Well, thank you for telling me, then. I’ll see you in the morning for practice on Monday?”

“Yeah.” The other confirms.

Just as Makoto is about to turn and walk inside, Haru stops him. “Hey, Makoto?”

The brunet pauses with his hand on the doorknob, looking back at the violinist expectantly.

”Did you want to swim together next weekend? I was going to go to the pool and it’s always nice to have someone to race against.”

Makoto laughs a little at that, nodding eagerly. “Sure, just text me the details. Bye, Haru.” He waves and watches the other go up the stairs and disappear down the road. Makoto’s mind races as be quietly makes his way through the house, closing himself in his room. Throughout the whole night and especially during his talk with the violinist, his heart hasn’t stopped beating against his chest. Defeated and exhausted, the cellist collapses onto his bed, draping his arm over his eyes as he tries to collect his thoughts.

_Damn... I **really** like him._ He thinks, knowing that there’s simply no denying it anymore.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope these two weren’t too OOC for you guys. Haru is hard to write, lol...
> 
> Comments and kudos are EXTREMELY appreciated!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys I’m finally back with chapter 8!
> 
> Once again not a lot of music stuff happening here but don’t worry, it’s coming! The last half of this fic is gonna be all about their traveling and performances. 
> 
> I had a lot of difficulty with this chapter (it just took me forever to write?) but reading it over I think I like it! Sorry if it seems clumsy and disconnected at times, that’s just what happens since I write a little bit at a time over the span of a few weeks. 
> 
> Also it’s hard to properly portray the warm summer-y feeling in this fic when it’s currently snowing 10+ inches of snow every other day where I am right now lmao. 
> 
> Anyway I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Keep the comments and kudos coming! I love your feedback and it encourages me to write so much faster! Thank you all for the amount of support you’ve given me this far!

After the weekend is over, a lot of work lies ahead for Makoto and Haru, as well as the others in the orchestra. They have one more week of practice before they begin touring to different cities in Japan, and everyone is eager. Makoto and Haru have settled into a routine without even consulting about it first. Haru is the first to wake up (usually using the time to take a bath and make breakfast) and arrive at the school. Makoto is never far behind, but it’s extremely endearing to see him rush into the room every day with his eyes still a bit droopy from sleep as he apologizes profusely. Haru always tells him it’s not a big deal, which helps the brunet relax so they can start their practice. This makes Haru wonder, is Makoto a night owl? Do his siblings keep him up? There are so many things he doesn’t know about Makoto, and with each passing day he wishes he knew everything about the cello player.

The two have also been slowly getting more attention from their bandmates, mostly because they rarely stop their morning practice even when others start to come in anymore. They’re just so focused, playing sections, critiquing each other, and writing in the margins of their music. They basically don’t stop until someone needs their seat or Amakata-sensei comes in and tells them to split up for the morning.

It’s Friday and Amakata comes into the room, taking her place on the podium in front of the band. Because of the upcoming weekend and since it’s their last rehearsal at the school, it takes her a few more seconds than usual to quiet down the chatter of the students so she can begin her announcements. “Good morning everyone!” She starts, clasping her hands together. “I just wanted to give a couple announcements before we start. Firstly, as you all know, this is our last rehearsal at this school. Information about Monday and travel situations have been sent to you all in your emails, along with your travel groups and what buses you have been assigned. Next, as many of you already know...” She trails off, smiling towards Makoto and Haru. “Our first violin, Haruka Nanase, and our first cello, Makoto Tachibana, have bravely decided to perform a duet to fill some space in the program. Let’s give them some encouragement!” She begins clapping softly and the others join in. Haru feels embarrassed, not liking so much attention on him, but when Rei congratulates him he feels a bit better and relaxes. Makoto also graciously accepts the kind words the other cellos give him.

Thankfully after that, they begin rehearsals as usual, though this time Amakata lets them play through all their songs without stopping (for the most part) to see how far they’ve come in the last two weeks. They sound amazing, with only a few bumps in the road (which she’s quick to point out and fix) and overall it’s a very satisfying and engaging rehearsal. Being stopped every few bars can get tiring sometimes, so there’s something theraputic about being able to play through the entire piece to see what it sounds like fully.

Their lunch break is welcome, the students immediately packing up to meet with friends. Over the last week Haru has finally decided to sit with Makoto, Rei, and Nagisa. He’s not sure why he put it off for so long, they’re very welcoming and Haru pretty much became one of the group instantly. They respect that he doesn’t care to speak a lot, but that doesn’t prevent them from still acknowledging him and including him in the conversation. It’s nice to feel included, Haru decides, thoroughly enjoying his time with his new friends.

Rei had already left to meet with Nagisa outside the door, leaving Haru to play a couple bars he didn’t quite perfect from rehearsal. Right as he’s finished and about to finally put his instrument away, he spots Makoto across the room, still sitting down with his cello and a couple girls talking to him. Lowering his instrument, Haru strains to listen to their conversation over the noise and commotion of talking and cases shutting.

“Um, Tachibana-san, I can’t wait to hear you play your duet in the concert!” The taller girl says. She has her light brown hair in a high ponytail with a pair of thin wired glasses perched on her petite nose. She holds her folder tightly against her chest, obviously flustered.

“Thank you...” Makoto answers, a little awkwardly, rubbing at the back of his head with a free hand. “I’m excited to finally perform it.”

The two girls smile widely. “I can hear you from where I stand in the percussion section. You sound amazing, Tachibana-san.” The shorter says next, her extremely long hair cascading down her back.

He thanks them again, “also, um, you don’t have to call me Tachibana-san, you can just call me Makoto...” he says sheepishly with his signature smile.

The girls giggle excitedly, happy about the statement. “Makoto, would you like to join us for lunch?” The taller asks, smiling excitedly.

“Oh, um...” Makoto hesitates.

For some reason, Haru can’t stand to watch the interaction anymore. He clicks his instrument case shut and rises abruptly to his feet, striding across the room with a huff. Makoto sees him before the girls do, but they spin around to look at him once he looms over them. “O-Oh, Nanase-san! We were just talking about how we were excited to hear you and Makoto-“

“Makoto, shouldn’t we get going?” He cuts her off, avoiding looking at them and instead peering down at the brunet still in his seat.

A bit startled and confused, Makoto stumbles over his words. “O-Oh, yeah, right!” He quickly puts the large instrument away, finally getting up to stand by Haru. “Um, thanks for the offer but... maybe another time?” He tells the two apologetically.

They look disappointed and all they can do is nod as Haru tightly grips Makoto’s wrist and starts walking towards the doors of the band room. Once they’re out in the hall, Haru lets go, surprised he even did that. It was very forward of him. “What’s gotten into you?” Makoto asks, cocking his head slightly as he watches the raven-haired boy’s expression. He wasn’t angry, just baffled.

Haru purses his lips into a thin line. “Nothing. Just hungry.” He lies stupidly.

“Okaaay...” Makoto says, still confused. “Let’s meet up with Nagisa and Rei, then.” He starts walking down the hallway, waiting for Haru to join him.

They walk in awkward silence for a couple seconds until Haru speaks up. “You can go eat with those girls, if you want to.” He says quietly. “I didn’t mean to be rude.”

Makoto turns towards the shorter, surprised by the statement. “No, that’s okay.”

“Why? They were obviously... y’know-“

“Flirting with me?” Makoto lets out a small laugh. “Yeah, I know.”

Haru’s slightly shocked at the bold statement, watching Makoto’s calm and collected expression with a hint of amazement. “So why don’t you join them?”

“I’d rather eat with you.” There’s a second before he quickly adds, “Nagisa and Rei, too. I don’t know those girls anyway.”

Haru keeps his gaze on Makoto’s face a second longer before focusing his attention on the hallway in front of him. “Do you already have a girlfriend?”

The question nearly makes Makoto choke on air, but he manages to just bark out an abrupt laugh. “N-No, I don’t have a girlfriend.” He says.

Haru raises an eyebrow. “Why not?”

Makoto thinks it’s a weird question, though can’t help but humor his friend anyway. “Just... not interested at the moment, I guess?” When Haru nods, Makoto can’t help himself. “Do you have a girlfriend, Haru?”

The black-haired boy glares at him from the corner of his eye, and Makoto chuckles, knowing he has his answer. “Thought so. Why not?” He pushes, giving the other a taste of his own medicine.

“Not interested, I guess.” He parrots Makoto from a moment ago, making the other grin a bit in amusement from the way his own words were turned against him.

They eat lunch with Nagisa and Rei, who are also excited for the weekend ahead and the traveling. Nagisa is especially enthusiastic in the way he talks Rei’s ear off about the different places theyre going to go and how many dates they’ll go on. Sometimes Haru doesn’t know how Makoto can handle third-wheeling them all the time, it’s pretty awkward to be around them at points. Thankfully Rei is a bit more courteous and makes sure to not let the subject linger on them for too long (though during Nagisa’s speed talking no one really has the heart to say that they won’t really have much time to do much of anything besides perform at the cities they’re traveling to, so they just let him dream for the time being).

Haru sits with his empty lunch box in his lap, tuning out the blond as he stares at the clock on the wall, watching the minute hand slowly make its way around. Makoto finishes his food next to him, drawing his attention to his friend instead. “Makoto?” He says.

“Hm?”

“Have you decided who you’re rooming with at the hotels yet?” He asks casually.

“Um, n-no, I was just going to let Amakata-sensei give me a random roommate...” the brunet answers quietly.

“Do you want to room with me?”

Makoto feels like he internally combusts, blown away for a second. The request really isn’t anything strange, but his new found feelings for the violinist has him envisioning way too many impossible scenarios that involve sharing a hotel room. His whole face is surely a deep red from the blush that spreads all the way down to his neck, and he tries whatever possible to not make any sort of eye contact with Haru. “That...” he clears his throat when it embarrassingly cracks, “that sounds great.” He chokes out.

Haru is watching him carefully, subconsciously raising an eyebrow in confusion at the other’s strange behavior. “You don’t have to. Just thought it would be convenient.”

“N-No I definitely want to!” Makoto blurts, though immediately wants to disappear as soon as the words leave his mouth. That is NOT what he meant to say, even if it’s true. “I mean, yes, th-that would be convenient!”

Haru nods slowly. “Okay, I’ll tell Amakata-sensei after rehearsal.”

Makoto silently feels like he’s having a heart attack as they all finish their lunch.

—

The day’s over and even though the week was pretty exciting, Makoto is happy their rehearsals are finished. As much as rehearsals can be rewarding and engaging at times, two weeks of every day practice is a lot for anyone and he just wants to perform already. The duet with Haru has come along really well, and they’ve already decided to practice a bit more themselves after they meet up to swim on Saturday.

Oh right, that’s still happening too.

Makoto hasn’t swam in awhile now, and from the sounds of it, Haru still swims every chance he gets. Ever since they had talked about it at the festival the violinist hasn’t stopped bringing it up any chance he can. Not that Makoto minds, actually quite the opposite. It’s charming to see Haru so happy about something that isn’t just orchestra or violin. The only reason he’s nervous at all is because he feels like he’d be pretty out of shape compared to the black-haired boy. Not that Makoto has a bad body or anything (which is an understatement to anyone who’s seen him before) but he just hopes his occasional exercise will prevent him from embarrassing himself over the weekend.

While Makoto is thinking about all of this, he’s walking side by side with Haru as they go back home after rehearsal. Makoto had to bring his cello home this time, since the school isn’t reserved for them anymore. It trails behind them loudly as the wheels of the case roll against the concrete and over the cracks in the sidewalk.

“Meet at your place at noon?” Haru says, breaking the silence as they make it to Makoto’s front door.

He smiles and nods, “Of course. Which pool are we going to?”

“We’re not going to a pool, we’re going to the beach.” The violinist says matter-of-factly.

Makoto suddenly feels himself pale. He swallows the lump that immediately forms in his throat. “O-Oh right, yeah.”

Haru hasn’t known Makoto for long, but the brunet has a bad habit of showing all his emotions on his face at all times, good or bad. He can sense the feeling of uneasiness for the cello player as soon as he says it and he tilts his head to the side a little. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” He answers quickly.

Haru narrows his blue eyes at the taller standing in front of him, watching him squirm uncomfortably under his gaze. “Seriously what’s wro-“

“Nothing’s wrong, Haru.” Makoto cuts him off sternly. “I’m totally fine with the beach. I’ll see you at noon tomorrow.”

Haru is stunned into silence for a few long seconds. Makoto has never raised his voice or talked to him so abruptly before, he feels like he has whiplash. He knows he has to say something or else things will be even more awkward than they are already. “Okay...” he says quietly, breaking away from Makoto’s piercing gaze and off the side.

Makoto realizes he may have been a bit stern and his body relaxes, feeling bad that he put Haru on the spot like that. “After swimming we can practice...?” He says hesitantly, carefully watching the boy in front of him.

The tension in Haru’s body released too with the question, once again facing Makoto. He nods with a very small but noticeable smile. “Yeah, of course. Bye, Makoto.” He waves before turning his back to climb the stairs to his own house, biting his lip in worry when he’s out of the brunet’s sight, wondering why the ocean evoked such a response from his friend.

—

The next morning, Makoto wakes up to the sound of rain hitting the roof and quiet, rolling thunder in the distance. He’s never been a huge fan of rain, but the ambient noise felt like it was lulling him back to sleep. His common sense was awake and nagged him to wake up or he would be late for their meet up. He gets up and slowly begins his morning routine and, as he’s brushing his teeth, it just dawns on him that the storm means that he and Haru can’t swim in the ocean like they planned. It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off his shoulders. At the same time, he feels guilty, knowing how much Haru was looking forward to swimming. He figures they’ll still go to a pool, but Makoto almost can’t bear the thought of the violinist being really disappointed since their initial plans fell through.

Almost as if Haru knew exactly what Makoto was thinking, his phone buzzes with a text on the sink. After he finishes rinsing his mouth, he unlocks his phone to read it.

From: Haru

_It’s raining. Community pool instead?_

To: Haru

_Sounds great, see you soon._

He eats a quick lunch (or bunch?), making something for the twins too after they beg him. Usually their mom takes the weekends off to sleep in and they’re still at the age where they rise earlier than teenagers. Makoto doesn’t mind making them something small to let his mom rest and he quickly says bye once Haru texts him that he’s waiting outside. He shoulders his athletic bag that holds his swim trunks, goggles, and other things he needs for the pool. Also an umbrella, which is just as important.

He closes the front door behind him and quickly opens his umbrella before any rain can get to him. Waiting on the side of the street is Haru, also holding an umbrella and staring off into the distance, not noticing Makoto’s presence yet.

“You remembered your umbrella this time?” Makoto calls out to him and snickers, joining him on the street.

That got his attention and Haru just rolls his eyes in response, making Makoto laugh a little louder. “Are you ready?” He asks, readjusting so his own athletic bag so it sits more comfortably on his shoulder.

“Yeah, let’s go.” They start walking, Haru going a bit faster than usual. It’s probably just cause he’s eager, Makoto thinks.

Actually, speaking of that, Makoto happens to look down and notice that it looks like Haru’s already wearing his swimsuit. “Haru,” He says, “are you wearing your jammers already?”

The other nods.

“You know, they have locker rooms there, you didn’t uhave to walk all the way there in them...”

“I know. I want to get into the water as fast as possible.” The violinist deadpans, never once taking his eyes off the road in front of him as he speaks.

Makoto pauses, the sound of the pouring rain making him wonder if he heard his friend right. When it dawns on him that Haru wasn’t kidding in the slightest, he barks out a brief laugh. “I knew you loved swimming, but that’s kind of hilarious...” he says, snickering.

Haru looks over, snapped back into reality by Makoto’s laughter. Though when he sees his smile and knows that he’s laughing and smiling because of him, his cheeks warm despite the cool air brought on by the rain. “I guess...” he mumbles, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed.

Upon the quiet response, Makoto still grins with amusement but gives Haru’s shoulder a couple reassuring pats. “I’m just kidding. Just wasn’t expecting you to be so prepared.”

Makoto’s hands are big and warm, and Haru briefly wishes that he would keep his hand there. Maybe even wrap his whole arm around his shoulder. Yeah, that’d be nice... Haru has to shake his head, trying to get his thoughts out of the gutter. This isn’t the time or place.

“By the way, I’m sorry that we couldn’t go to the beach today. I know you were really looking forward to it.”

The black-haired boy shrugs a shoulder. “It’s okay. It’s my fault for not even checking the weather. Besides, it’s for the best anyway since you didn’t really want to go.”

“Haru I told you that it’s completely fine-“

“It’s okay, Makoto. I could tell just by your reaction so you don’t have to lie to me. You don’t have to tell me why you don’t like the ocean but I’m still not going to make you go when it obviously makes you uncomfortable.” Haru says curtly.

Even though the statement itself could come off as really aggressive, Haru’s gentle tone made Makoto think it was genuine and in Makoto’s best interest. No matter how many times the other assured him that his preference to stay away didn’t matter, he still felt guilty. He doesn’t know why, it just makes his chest ache. This isn’t the first time he’s felt like this, since growing up there had been times that Ren and Ran would want him to take them to the beach so they could play and swim. He could never do it, it scared him too much, and now that they’re older they understand why a little more, but when they were oblivious it hurt to see them so disappointed.

Makoto let out a long, big sigh. “I’m sorry, Haru...”

“Why are you sorry?”

“I just feel bad. The story of why isn’t too complicated, really... when I was little I used to know this fisherman. He was really nice and we bonded. When he went out on the ocean one day an unexpected storm came through, kind of like today...” he trails off for a second, “his boat sank and he died. I attended the funeral and it was just... pretty traumatic. Ever since then I’ve been pretty uncomfortable with the ocean. I can be around it and have actually swam in it again once, but the whole time I’m always pretty scared. You just have no idea what will happen.”

Haru listens to the brunet intently, frowning when he says the fisherman died. He expected something like this, but his heart doesn’t hurt any less for his friend. There are times like this when Haru feels like he gets a sort of reality check and he should be more thankful for his positive experiences that he’s had. “I’m sorry Makoto, that’s awful... I never meant to pressure you into doing something you didn’t want to.”

“Haru, really, it’s perfectly fine.” He looks over at the violinist, offering an earnest smile. Haru makes eye contact with him and, for a moment, Makoto feels breathless when he remembers just how blue his eyes are. Haru lips upturn slightly into the smallest of smiles as well, and that’s more than enough for Makoto.

They finally reach the indoor pool and even their umbrellas didn’t keep them completely dry on the way over. Makoto expected the place to be bustling with kids and visitors since it’s a rainy Saturday afternoon, but they were surprisingly met with a mostly empty building. It was basically just them and the few employees behind the front desk and the janitor.

“Where is everyone...?” Makoto asks quietly, not wanting his voice to echo in the empty room. He shakes the water of his umbrella on the rug by the front door.

“I know the owner of this place. He actually used to be my coach.” Haru says, already leading Makoto down a hallway and towards the pool. “The place has been going downhill from the lack of business lately.”

“That’s too bad...” Makoto says sincerely. It’s still nicely kept for a place that may be going out of business soon, but that does explain the lack of visitors.

Haru is practically almost running down the hall now, the clear door that leads to the pool in sight. Makoto feels like he almost has to jog to keep up. “Haru, wait-“

The violinist doesn’t listen and bursts through the door. The smell of chlorine hits Makoto’s nose immediately, briefly reminding him of his old swimming days. Haru’s shirt is pulled over his head in less than a second and dropped down on top of his bag. In the next instant there’s a loud splash as he dives headfirst into the pool, Makoto not even having a _chance_ to protest as he briefly shields himself from the splash before he watches Haru swim under the water. His powerful legs kick forward in a smooth motion, nearly going halfway down the pool before he resurfaces. He effortlessly transitions into the front crawl swimming stroke, splashing water from his powerful kicks and his arms moving in and out of the water. Makoto just stands by the door, eyes wide and dumbfounded by the display. His SPEED is just incredible. Before he even has time to appreciate Haru’s powerful stroke and technique he already expertly flips over to kick off the other side to come straight back into Makoto’s direction. Suddenly he remembers their conversation at the festival, and how Haru casually mentioned that he almost went pro with a friend. Makoto didn’t even fully register what that meant until now, watching Haru swim with astonishing control.

He finally reaches the end of the pool, moving to plant his feet on the bottom and stand. He shakes the water out of his hair with a couple sharp head movements. He barely looks like the quick lap phased him, only breathing a bit heavily from exertion as he finally remembers Makoto is with him as well. “Aren’t you coming in?”

“I...” The cello player is speechless, really. He had no idea things would go like this. Seeing Haru swim so beautifully and finally see just how nice his body and physique were from all those said years of swimming has his face and neck completely red, maybe all the way down to his chest. “I have to change...” He says in a small voice, though it still echoes through the building as the sound bounces off all the tile and hard surfaces.

Haru just nods before submerging himself underwater again, swimming back off the other direction.

Makoto takes that as his cue and he picks up Haru’s forgotten bag and shirt on his way to the men’s locker room, not wanting them to get in trouble for leaving items in the pool area. Like the rest of the place, the locker room is deserted, and Makoto finds a couple lockers to put their bags and clothes while they swim. He changes into his jammers, glad they still seem to fit the same way they did in his early high school days. To his amusement, the stripe pattern on them nearly matched Haru’s, though they were different lengths and colors. Slipping his goggles over his head to rest on his neck, he makes his way back out to the pool.

He pads over the tile, his bare feet making soft patting noises. Haru currently floats on his back in the water, his eyes closed and looking extremely peaceful. He opens one eye when he’s alerted of the brunet’s presence and stands upright again. And, well, it’s _really_ hard not to immediately gawk at Makoto’s body. It’s hard to believe that he’d stopped swimming all the time, as his body suggests he still must be doing some type of rigorous work out occasionally. Haru knew that Makoto was good-looking, but damn is he rarely ever deemed speechless by anyone. He is especially impressed by his back muscles that are full display as the cello player turns around to climb down the ladder into the pool instead of jumping.

Haru wades through the water over to him so that they can talk at a comfortable volume. “Makoto...” he starts once he’s close enough.

“Yeah?”

“You look... good.” Haru mumbles, not being able to stop himself.

Makoto’s whole face flushes a deep red, and the black-haired boy is worried that the other is going to combust for a second. “I-I, what?” He asks, his voice small.

“You look good.” Haru repeats, more boldly this time. “I can definitely tell you were a swimmer. And more specifically back stroke.” He says.

Makoto is rarely ever lost for words, but here he is. Unable to utter a single sound as his entire brain short circuits from the compliment. Haruka Nanase, probably one of the most gorgeous people Makoto has ever seen on pretty much every level, is standing in front of him and complimenting his body. Maybe it was stupid of him to be worried about his figure compared to Haru’s, but it still feels like he had been given one of the most noble compliments coming from the violinist and his current crush (something he’s still having a hard time admitting to himself). “Y-You too...!” He says in a panic, accidentally way too loud in the quiet room. Haru’s lips upturn into an amused smirk. The brunet still is getting used to his smiles and, surprisingly, this seems to be the most common one he’s encountered so far. “It’s true, Haru, I...” he clears his throat. “I can tell you’re a swimmer too. How much do you swim usually, again?” He asks, genuinely curious.

The shorter shrugs one shoulder. “Any time I can, really. Though the orchestra thing has kept me from the pool for a couple weeks.”

Makoto nods in understanding.

“So, want to race?” Haru asks.

Makoto laughs. “Really? Even if I haven’t swam in forever? I have no chance, Haru.”

Haru shrugs one shoulder, the water rippling from the action. “It’s not a serious race, just to have some fun. Please?”

Well, when he says please there’s no way Makoto could resist. “Alright...”

They both go to the side of the pool and hoist themselves up and out, the water cascading down their bodies to puddle onto the floor. They both pad over to the starting blocks at the end of the pool. “Front crawl?” Makoto asks as he snaps on his cap and goggles, pushing them against his face so they sunction on properly.

“I only swim free.” Haru answers simply, doing the same thing as the cello player. Haru also notices their color scheme, Makoto’s being green and Haru’s purple. It’s weird, it almost looks like they could he on the same swimming team. The thought made Haru smile. That would be an incredible experience.

“Of course.” Makoto chuckles and steps up onto the starting block with Haru, getting into their starting positions. They don’t have anyone to officially tell them to start, so Haru does his best to say the commands for them to dive off at the same time. As they lean over in preparation for their dive, Haru’s eyes wander over to the brunet instead of the pool below him, something that rarely happens. He never finds himself being distracted by anything when water is present, but he admires Makoto’s form. Concentrated, serious, ready to swim. It’s thrilling, he hasn’t felt this excited to race anyone since... well, since forever ago.

He turns his head back to the water in front of him, finally exclaiming “go!”. There’s a rush of motion as they both kick off the board and there’s a moment of silence before the water crashes around them. The water muffles all the sound around him and usually Haru doesn’t really register anything when he’s swimming, but for the brief second when he’s underwater, he can see that Makoto is ahead of him in the corner of his vision. It’s to be expected, with Makoto being taller and probably having more strength in his legs than Haru. His kick off had always been one of the only things that Haru wasn’t very skilled at.

However, whatever Haru lacked in his kick off, he made up for in his dynamic and smooth stroke. It only took a couple seconds for Haru to catch up to the boy next to him who obviously lacked in just overall speed with his stroke. They were approaching the end of pool quickly and Haru was the first to make it, flipping under the water and feeling his feet hit the wall as he kicked off for the last time. The brunet wasn’t far behind, once again his powerful legs propelling him forward enough to almost close the distance between them. The old familiar rush of competition shook Haru to his very core, his heart beating quickly from both exertion and exhileration as he propelled himself forward even faster as the end was in sight. By now there was practically a whole body length of distance between them as Haru easily pulled forward, his stamina obviously triumphing over Makoto’s. The black-haired boy touches the wall and he drops his feet to the bottom, his lungs burning as he pants from the exercise.

It takes a good few seconds before Makoto joins him by his side, also panting and trying to catch his breath. They don’t even acknowledge each other for a minute as they recover from the race. Eventually Haru removes his goggles and swimming cap, shaking the water out of his hair. The cellist does the same, looking over at Haru with the widest smile he’s seen yet. It’s BRIGHT and practially RADIANT, Haru seriously thinks he may go blind if stares too long. The green of his eyes are practically sparkling from the reflection of the fluorescent lights on the rippling waves of the pool. “That was incredible...” Makoto exclaims, still breathless.

“Yeah...?” Haru asks dumbly.

“You’re an _incredible_ swimmer, Haru. I mean, I knew that already but, _wow_ watching doesn’t even compare to actually swimming alongside you.” He lets out a small laugh, bringing up a hand to slick his wet hair back and off his forehead.

God, that was hot, and Haru has to look away before he thinks any more inappropriate thoughts. “You were incredible too, Makoto.” He says honestly.

“Pfft, I’m so out of practice, I really didn’t even stand a chance. My stamina is nothing like it used to be.” He laughs again, but softer and maybe more embarrassed this time.

“Your kicks are impressive and powerful. You actually pulled ahead of me for a second at the beginning.” Haru says matter-of-factly.

“Mm, maybe so...” Makoto wants to protest more, though by now he knows that Haru doesn’t like it when he denies his compliments. He’s eventually learned that during their many hours of practicing their instruments. If Haru thought Makoto was good at something and voiced it, he didn’t want to be disputed. It was hard for Makoto to bite his tongue sometimes, especially when the gap in their skill levels are so apparent. The race still left him giddy though, reminding him of his swimming days and the fun of competing.

“Wanna go again?” Haru asks, already putting his goggles back on as if he knows the answer.

And of course, he does. “Absolutely.”

—

They swam for another hour or so, mostly racing, and other times floating and relaxing with the water around them. Since Haru refuses to swim any other stroke, they didn’t race with anything other than front crawl (which is unfortunate because Makoto kind of wanted to show off his back stroke). Makoto got his ass handed to him every time, though he felt like he was getting better at his front crawl (which always needed work anyway) so he honestly didn’t mind.

They finally called it a day, going into the locker room to change out of their wet jammers and into warm, dry clothes. It had stopped raining at some point while they were swimming, the air thick with humidity and the smell of recently fallen rain (with a hint of fishiness when they were walking home by the ocean).

When they reached Haru’s house, they dropped their bags by the front door with their shoes. Haru was quick to open the large doors to the outside, embracing the cool air the rain had brought. Makoto assumed they were going to start practice and started to bring his cello into the living room (that he quickly got from home on their walk back). Haru watched him for a second, not moving from the doorway. Before the brunet could completely pick up the large instrument and bring it into playing position, he cleared his throat. “Hey, Makoto?”

“Hm?” The other responds, curiously looking towards his friend.

“Actually, let’s... not practice today. I think we’re prepared.” He says.

That surprised Makoto and suddenly, he doesn’t know what to do with the cello already in his hand. It’s true that they really don’t have anything left to practice, but that doesn’t stop the slight disappointment from tugging at him. He does his best to not show it on his face. “O-Oh, alright, that’s fine. I’ll just pack up and go home then.” He responds, already putting his cello away.

“N-No, I mean...” After Makoto stops once again and watches him, Haru has to avoid eye contact. “You don’t have to go home. We can... hang out, or something.”

Had he really just heard that right...? Haru’s asking Makoto to hang out with him? Haru had never asked to be with Makoto unless it involved practicing or something else. The only time he’d consider them spending time together as actual friends is when he convinced Haru to join him, Rei, and Nagisa at the festival. Even though the swimming was questionable, Makoto had just assumed it fell in the same category since they had planned to rehearse that day too. He was overcome with excitement at the request and he tried not to dumbly grin ear to ear. “Y-Yeah, sure, if you don’t mind. I’d love to.” He adds.

Haru looks at him again, the embarrassment fading away when he sees that Makoto is actually excited and okay with the idea. “Video games?”

Makoto nods and they set up the system, deciding on a classic (Mario Kart) to play together.

—   
The rest of the afternoon passes by quickly, the sun setting outside and crickets chirping loudly outside of Haru’s house. They’d played Mario Kart and a bunch of other games and, surprisingly, Makoto nearly dominated him at all of them. I guess he just excelled at video games where Haru’s strengths lied in swimming and violin. When Haru said this out loud Makoto just laughed, saying his siblings always made him play with them so he just had a lot of practice. They’d also ordered pizza, the empty boxes now sitting on Haru’s coffee table in the middle of the living room, leaving them full and satisfied.

Now that it’s dark outside and getting late, they’ve settled down on Haru’s small sofa to watch a movie together. They don’t talk much, which is fine with Makoto, giving him some time to reflect and think about the day.

He felt content... happy, really. Ever since meeting Haru at the beginning of their training camp, he feels like he’s acquired a special friend who’s taken him on a roller coaster of emotions since they first met. He was just so interesting and fun to be around. Makoto liked knowing that Haru was warming up to him, much like he was to Haru, and that he’s showing new sides of himself to the brunet the more they’re alone together. Even with the movie playing on the tv in front of them, his eyes still drift over to observe the violinist next to him. He watched the screen attentively, the light reflecting off his eyes. Makoto admires his jaw line and boyish face, feeling his heart ache with the urge to be closer to him.

He looks away and bites his lip, trying not to think too much about that right now.

As the movie plays, Makoto suddenly becomes very aware of just how comfortable he feels. Swimming has always left him exhausted at the end of the day, whether he’d swim inside or outside. The exercise made him feel satisfied and relaxed all the way to his bones, which were free of tension he had felt that morning. The scent of chlorine lingered around them, subtle but still there, and it was comforting. It really did feel like a cool summer night as an occasional breeze would sweep through the room and bring fresh air and scents.

The warmth and sleepiness started tugging on Makoto’s eyelids dangerously and, no matter how long he tried to fight it off, sleep overtook him as he drifted into unconsciousness.

—

It took a few minutes for Haru to realize Makoto had fallen asleep and when he did, he was unsure of what to do. He heard deep and soft breathing next to him, turning his attention away from the movie to his guest. There he saw Makoto’s head lulled to the side, his mouth parted slightly as he breathed evenly in and out.

Haru simply stares for a moment, appreciating Makoto’s features and how peaceful he looked while asleep. He picks up the remote and turns the volume down, hoping that would help him sleep easier. He remembers that he has a small blanket in his room and tentatively rises from the sofa, hoping the shift from standing wouldn’t wake the brunet. Thankfully it doesn’t, and Haru quietly stalks out of the room to his bedroom. He finds the small blue blanket, taking it back to the main area. He quietly drapes it over Makoto’s sleeping frame, careful to be as gentle as possible. It isn’t much, but Haru’s house is warm anyway from the lack of air conditioning, so he hopes it’s enough.

Taking his spot back on the sofa, the movie is forgotten as Haru chooses to just entertain himself with his phone for the time being. While it’s not really early, Haru figures he can let Makoto sleep for a few minutes before waking him up and walking him home. What he doesn’t expect, however, is for Makoto to shift and lean the other direction, his head coming to rest on Haru’s shoulder. The violinist tenses up, his heart beat quickening in his chest. He looks down, truly seeing just how long Makoto’s eyelashes are and how soft his brown hair looks. Haru wishes he could reach out and run his fingers through it to work out the small tangles. He sighs quietly through his nose, keeping his hands on his phone.

Despite his previous agreement with himself that he’d eventually wake Makoto, the quiet hum of the television and the harsh light of his phone made him feel drowsy in no time as well. The sensible part of him said he needed to wake Makoto up, tell him to get home so that he could sleep in his own bed. But another part of him was so comfortable, feeling the taller’s body heat radiating from him and warming Haru as well.

The sleepiness was eventually too much. Haru locked his phone and leaned his head to the side on the couch, feeling his eyes close and a deep dreamless sleep overcome him, all while aware of the slight weight on his left shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These boys..... r really gay. Someone help them.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> O-Oh, what's this...? OwO
> 
> Lmao yeah here it is, over three months later. I didn't forget about this fic guys, I'm going to finish it even if it kills me!! Literally as soon as I finished the last chapter school and work kicked my ass, but it's summer vacation now and this fic should have my full attention. I think it's turning a year old soon? Who would've thought!!
> 
> Even though this chapter is super late at least it's like 8,000 words right? Right...? 
> 
> Anyway yeah they're finally traveling Japan together and I don't know if you can tell but I maaay be setting up some angst here. Juuust maybe...
> 
> PLEASE leave comments and kudos if you like the fic! Not trying to be dramatic but sometimes they're literally the only things that keep me motivated to write. I need that Sweet Sweet Validation if ya know what I mean.
> 
> EDIT: I fixed some story inconsistencies that I accidentally missed when first writing, they’re in the part with Haru and Rei. Sorry guys, sometimes you forget what you’ve written if it’s been so long.

Makoto slowly begins to regain consciousness. The tweeting of the birds is loud, way too loud to fall back asleep even if he desperately wants to. The brunet is also all too aware of the bright light against his eyelids. There’s a blissful moment where he doesn’t remember where he is, just that he’s comfortable and warm. He opens his eyes and blinks a few times, trying to get the sleep out of them. He realizes that he forgot to take out his contacts the night before, resulting in some uncomfort as his eyes try to adjust. He’ll have to deal with that later.

As he finally focuses and his mind catches up with him, he’s met with the sight of Haru’s living room basked in the golden light of the morning sun. It reflects off the trophies on his shelves and the dust in the air, floating slowly in the rays. It also warms his left shoulder and with the blanket, it makes him uncomfortably hot.

Wait… blanket?

Makoto’s fully alert now and he realizes he’s not leaning against the couch anymore, but someone else. That someone being Haru. He fell asleep on Haru’s shoulder.

He sits up abruptly, jostling the sofa and causing the blanket to fall down onto his lap in the process. His heart beats quickly as he’s left breathless from the realization, not able to tear his gaze away from the boy next to him. He’s still asleep, his mouth parted and head lulled onto the sofa, his shoulders rising up and down from his soft breathing. Did he really fall asleep on him like that? Or did it happen after? The anxiety from the thought alone was already stressing him out.

The brunet tries to calm down, taking a couple quiet deep breaths. He runs a hand through his tousled hair, reaching over to the table by the couch to retrieve his phone. The battery is dangerously low since he forgot to charge it overnight like he usually does, though there’s no reason to worry about it now. The time reads 8:21am, and he’s missing a couple messages from his mom, one from last night and the other about twenty minutes ago.

From: Mom (10:36pm)

_Are you coming home tonight?_

From: Mom (7:58am)

_I hope you had fun last night, Mako. Don’t be out all day though, you need to spend time with the twins before you go on your orchestra tour._

Usually his mom never bothers to message him about where he is or what he does since he’s gotten older, but ever since Makoto decided to go to Tokyo for college she’s been a bit more selfish when it comes to having him home. The cellist supposes he understands, he is the oldest child after all.

Before he can reply, however, he sees Haru begin to stir, and he quickly locks his phone and puts it back on the table. As the black-haired boy wakes up, Makoto temporarily panics, not even sure what to say (or if he should say anything at all). When Haru finally sits up and rubs his eyes, Makoto just settles for a nervous “good morning”.

The violinist hums in response as he rubs the back of his neck, almost as if he’s massaging a sore muscle. “G’morning…” He mumbles, Makoto’s chest tightens at the sight of his friend, hair messy and his expression more relaxed from sleep. He’s so used to seeing him maintain a neutral or distinterested face, so to witness him with his guard down like this is truly endearing.

“I, uh…” Makoto bites his lip, not sure what to say. “Sorry I fell asleep. I guess I didn’t realize how tired I was.”

Haru shrugs casually. “S’fine.” He also runs a hand through his black hair, trying to tidy it up a little bit.

The brunet isn’t sure whether he should apologize or not about falling asleep on him too, but he’s still so embarrassed about it and finds the words dying on his tongue before they can leave his mouth.

Haru’s eyes glance over and meet Makoto’s, the morning sunlight making them brighter than before, practically a colbalt blue. “Did you sleep okay?” He asks quietly.

Makoto blushes, breaking eye contact. “Yeah, I slept fine.”

Haru nods and gets up, stretching his arms over his head. He walks off and disappears around the corner into what Makoto assumes is the kitchen. The cellist gets up and folds the blanket that was on him, just leaving it on the couch for now. Without even thinking about it, he starts to clean up their mess from the night before, putting away Haru’s games and taking the empty pizza box and cups into the kitchen. When he enters the room, he’s met with the sight of Haru standing in a blue apron over the stove. The brunet holds back a laugh that threatens to escape. He throws away the box and takes the cups to the sink, looking over at what Haru’s cooking.

Mackerel, of course. Even only knowing Haru for about a month he’s not surprised by this.

Catching Makoto watching him, the black-haired boy looks up from his cooking. “Want some?” He asks.

Makoto chuckles and shakes his head. “No, that’s okay, I need to get home.” He says truthfully.

Makoto thinks he sees some disappointment in Haru’s eyes, but it’s hard to tell since he looks back down at the pan. “Okay.”

Checking to make sure he has everything, the cellist starts to back his way out of the kitchen slowly towards the front door. “Thanks for having me over Haru, I… I actually had a lot of fun. We should… hang out more, after the orchestra tour.” He says carefully, wondering how the other will react.

The shorter looks back at him, offering a small smile. “Definitely.”

Relieved, Makoto tilts his head to the side a bit and smiles back. “Also, I’m sorry for falling asleep on you…” He says, his face burning slightly when he realizes he unintentionally mentioned how he slept against Haru the whole night.

“It’s okay.” Haru says, his cheeks also warm at the reminder.

“Alright, I’ll be off then. See you tomorrow, Haru!” He says as a final goodbye, and Haru listens to the brief shuffling as the brunet puts his shoes on at the door and closes it behind him.

 _I really didn’t mind at all…_ Haru thinks to himself, remembering the comforting weight of Makoto’s body against his, and wonders if he’ll ever be able to experience that again.

\--

After Makoto gets home, he doesn’t have a minute of relaxation as he packs and spends time with his family. Since he got home from Haru’s rather early, he uses that time to pack his suitcase for the upcoming week. The reality of the trip is finally starting to set in, which makes his nerves buzz with excitement. It was easy to forget that the orchestra was finally going to perform after the many hours of dedicated work and practice.

His mom also seemed pretty happy that he and Haru were spending more time together, evident by the brunet staying overnight (which he rarely does anywhere, even with Nagisa and Rei), so she was in a particularly good mood. The rest of the day he just hung out at home and gets some practice in before he packs his cello for good.

That night, Makoto finds himself lying in bed, restless and staring at the ceiling. He thinks he may have practiced too much, even. His fingers are especially sore and he kept going until his eyes physically burned from focusing on his music for so long. He knows he’s more than ready for their performance, and yet even thinking about finally going on stage with Haru soon made his heart pound against his chest and his palms clammy. The violinist knew about Makoto’s stage fright since it was briefly mentioned when they first met, does he know the extent, though? The brunet had been too uncomfortable to really tell him how nervous he is, especially as the performance draws closer than before.

He swallows the lump in his throat and tries to think about something else.

It wasn’t too hard to get his mind on a different topic. It’s still about Haru, unsurprisingly, Makoto can’t seem to think about anything else the past week. He thinks about that Saturday night and how nice it felt to hang out with him as friends rather than band partners. The muscles in his cheeks are still somewhat sore from how much he smiled and laughed as they played video games and watched movies. Funnily enough, Makoto learned that the other was kind of a sore loser, pouting and in denial every time he lost a round at video games. He thinks about how he fell asleep on Haru’s shoulder, how comfortable and warm it was despite the awkward position. He’s still worried that it was out of bounds, but Haru didn’t seem to mind at all the next day. It makes his feelings for the violinist even more complicated and if he thinks about it too much he’s going to give himself a headache… He kind of wishes that awkward situation didn’t happen, especially since they’re going to be sharing a hotel room.

That thought alone makes the brunet shift uncomfortably on his bed, turning to his side and once again trying to derail his train of thought.

With that completely off topic thought, he sighs through his nose, really hoping that sleep will take him soon.

\--

Makoto’s alarm goes off way too early for comfort. The anticipation for the day helps him rise out of bed, going about his morning routine faster than usual. He packs the last of his toiletries he saved for the morning, bringing his luggage and his cello out to the main room in preparation for when he leaves later. Instead of walking, his mom offered to drive him for the day so he wouldn’t have to drag along both his suitcase and the giant cello behind him for the half hour walk. That’s one task that he doesn’t have to worry about, at least.

As he’s slowly eating his breakfast, his phone buzzes on the table next to him.

From: Haru

_Good morning._

The brunet smiles, immediately dropping his toast to reply.

To: Haru

_Good morning, Haru. Are you ready for today?_

From: Haru

_Yeah, I’m leaving in a few minutes._

So early…? Makoto thinks, but then realizes that his friend would have to walk, and he’s even further than him. The cellist looks up at his mother who’s sipping her coffee and reading a book at the table, her dirty plate pushed to the side for now.

“Hey, mom…?” Makoto calls out to get her attention.

She hums in acknowledgement, putting down her cup.

“Can we also give Haru a ride to the school? He’d have to walk otherwise.”

At the mention of Haru’s name, she smiles and nods. “Of course! I was wondering if I’d get to officially meet him before you guys left today. Tell him we’ll be there in about ten minutes.” She says, gathering up the dirty dishes to take them to the sink.

The brunet nods, quickly sending another message to his friend before he leaves the house.

To: Haru

_Actually do you want a ride in the car? My mom is taking me today._

From: Haru

_Sure, if you don’t mind._

To: Haru

_Not at all. Be there in ten minutes._

He locks his phone and gets up from the table, bringing his instrument and luggage out to the car. Birds chirp loudly and the air is thick with humidity even with the sun not fully up yet. In fact, Makoto can see the sunrise over the ocean in the distance, turning the sky various shades of pinks and oranges. Getting everything into the car, he leans against the vehicle for a minute, appreciating the morning sunshine. Despite his nervousness from the night before, he’s starting to feel more at ease. Finally, his mother emerges from the house with her keys and they get into the car, following Makoto’s directions to Haru’s.

\--

Unable to sit still inside, Haru sits on the front steps of his house, watching the road for Makoto’s car. While he actually wouldn’t have minded walking to the school this morning in the beautiful weather, he knows that half way through he would get tired of dragging along his suitcase. He watches a beetle scurry around on the ground below him, weaving between his shoes and the cracks on the sidewalk. He perks up when he hears an engine down the road and a small white car comes into view. He’s seen the same car in Makoto’s driveway as he’s walked by, so he immediately stands and starts gathering up his things before they can stop completely by his house.

As he approaches the car, the driver side window rolls down and a woman smiles at him cheerfully. She has the same eyes as Makoto, slightly drooped down and that beautiful green color to always portray an expression of kindness. “Hello, Nanase-san!” She greets.

“Hello, Tachibana-san.” He bows slightly, “It’s nice to finally meet you.” He says politely.

She waves her hand dismissively, basically telling him to not be so formal. “It’s nice to meet you too! I was wondering if Mako was ever going to bring you around.” She comments with a small laugh. “You can put your stuff in the trunk, by the way.”

He nods and does as she says, setting his things next to Makoto’s. He gets into the back seat with his friend, exchanging good morning’s once again.

“It really is great to see you, Haru.” His mother starts again, pulling back onto the road to drive. “Is it okay if I call you Haru?” She asks.

“Yes, that’s fine.” He answers.

“Mako hasn’t stopped talking about you for a week and a half! You’ll have to come over for dinner sometime, I’ll make us some curry.” She suggests.

“Oh really?” Haru asks, the ghost of a smirk forming on his face as he glances at the taller next to him.

Makoto feels his face warm with a blush, looking out the window to avoid eye contact with Haru. “Not all the time…” He mumbles.

They leave him alone after that as his mom immediately goes into asking Haru a million questions. Frankly they’re standard, mostly about how long he’s been playing violin, where his parents are, what school he went to, etc. The brunet drowns most of it out, looking out over the ocean as they drive towards the school. Surely enough, a few minutes later, they turn down a familiar street and a couple large buses can be seen in the distance in front of the school. There are already people bustling around, carrying instruments and loading the cargo area.

Not to get too caught up in the commotion, Makoto’s mom stops the car a couple blocks down the street for them to get out. “Alright boys, here we are.” She announces to them. They start to shuffle to get out of the car and she calls after them. “I can’t wait to see you perform! Good luck you two! I love you Mako!” She calls after him.

Haru wants to laugh at Makoto’s embarrassed expression when he says he loves her back. They get their things from the car and wave, watching her drive off and back home.

“Mama’s boy, huh?” Haru says, breaking the silence.

“H-Huh?” Makoto answers with a stutter, “Not really, she’s just… doting. She still treats me like I’m five, sometimes.”

Haru shrugs. “It’s cute.”

Makoto’s face turns even redder and he just wants to disappear. “I guess?”

Haru smiles, which makes the cellist forget what he was mad about in the first place if it meant he got to see the other happy. They walk together down the sidewalk and the closer they get to the school, the engines of the buses hum louder and louder. They check in with Amakata-sensei, who manages to greet them excitedly despite it being obvious that she’s extremely stressed and running herself ragged trying to get everything ready. Loading the cargo with their instruments and luggage, they find a bench by the school to sit at until it’s time to board the bus.

While they had originally planned on spending their time in silence and watching the others, a small figure sits right down in the middle of them, startling them both.

The boy let’s a huge yawn take over his body, stretching his arms all the way out above his head. “G’morning…” He says sleepily.

“Good morning, Nagisa.” Makoto responds with an amused smile. “Aren’t you supposed to be helping with the organization stuff right now? Y’know, since you volunteered as the trip manager for Amakata-sensei?”

“Mm, yeah, I’m just so tired though. I haven’t woken up this early since we graduated.” He yawns again for emphasis. “I should probably go, though.” He decides, standing again. “See ya later!” The two watch him briskly walk off, meeting up with Amakata-sensei to take a clip board and disappear into the building.

“Nagisa never struck me as the kind of person who would volunteer to be a trip manager…” Haru comments, confused.

Makoto laughs. “He’s not, he just really wanted to come on this trip with Rei but he doesn’t play an instrument. Amakata-sensei taught at our high school so we already know her pretty well, so she reluctantly agreed to let him come along to help with organizational stuff. Despite how he seems, Nagisa can be pretty organized and helpful in situations like this.”

 _Makes sense_ , Haru thinks. He doesn’t know Nagisa well enough yet to make any real assumptions about him.

After a few minutes of sitting down and resting, the two eventually had to get up and board the bus. They easily decided to sit next to each other; both carrying headphones and a couple other things that would help keep them occupied for the long rides that lay ahead of them over the next week. Rei also managed to get a seat in front of them, saving a seat for Nagisa when he finally finishes helping Amakata-sensei. The bus is loud with the chatter of the orchestra members despite the early hour of the morning. It really brings back memories of high school when they’d go on band trips or the rare competition for the swimming team. Haru already has his headphones in; staring out the window as the bus begins to move, officially starting their trip.

\--

Their first city is Osaka, which is a good three hour car ride. They don’t have a performance scheduled until the next day, so Makoto ends up wondering why they always make them leave super early if it’s not necessary. That could be just because he’s pretty tired (and even annoyed) that he had to wake up so early. While he doesn’t mind passing the time just listening to music, he was hoping his friends would at least talk to him to help the time pass by faster. Though as soon as the bus began moving, Nagisa leaned against Rei’s shoulder comfortably and fell asleep almost immediately. The violinist could do nothing but just sit still to let his boyfriend rest, reading a book quietly.

The brunet sighs, glancing over at Haru every once in a while, who hasn’t stopped looking out the window since the bus began moving. He does have one earbud out, so Makoto hopes he’s willing to be a conversation partner.

“What are you listening to, Haru?” He asks quietly, trying to be respectful to Nagisa and others sleeping around them.

The other perks up at the sound of Makoto’s voice, sitting up straighter to look at him. “A movie soundtrack.” He says.

“Oh? Which one?”

Haru hesitates, “Here.” The boy says, handing the free earbud to Makoto.

He gladly takes it, pressing it into his ear to have a listen. It’s a cello and violin duet, he notes, and tries not to smile widely at that. It has lyrics that are in English and he can only make out some of the words. “What movie is this?”

“It’s an American movie that came out recently, The Greatest Showman.” He unlocks his phone to show the cellist the cover art, “It’s called [Rewrite the Stars.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cINJwaAn4Y)”

Now Makoto really can’t stop the wide smile that lightens up his whole expression, and Haru feels so blinded for a moment by its radiance that he has to glance away before he smiles too. “Do you like musicals?”

“Not really…” He answers honestly, “I’ve just… been finding a lot of good violin and cello duets ever since we started practicing. There are so many good ones.”

“Well, maybe we should play more of them sometime!” He suggests excitedly.

Haru’s blue eyes widen, a little startled. “I mean, sure, if you want.”

“I guess we wouldn’t really have anywhere to perform them, though, so maybe it wouldn’t be worth it…” The taller trails off.

“I don’t care, I like playing with you.”

The bold statement makes Makoto blush and he quickly looks down at his lap to avoid Haru’s gaze. “I like playing with you, too.” He mumbles.

Haru turns away and smirks, really enjoying how he can make his friend flustered sometimes. It’s really becoming one of his new favorite things to do. He listens to his new library he put together over the last week of violin and cello duets, being lulled into relaxation by the buses’ constant motion and bumpiness. He doesn’t get to travel very often, let alone by car, so he looks out over the Japanese scenery, letting his mind wander. Haru can’t help but think that the classic music on his playlist paired with the rolling hills and mountains is very fitting and it almost puts him to sleep with how comfortable he feels. Eventually, the rural countryside is replaced with a city landscape, passing by businesses and homes before the bus is slowly making its way through the narrow city streets. Anyone who had been sleeping before is wide awake now, leaning over each other to see out the window at the impressive Osaka cityscape. Some of the orchestra members have barely traveled out of Iwatobi before so it’s an exciting day for them. Haru wonders how impressed they’ll all be when the sun goes down and the night life will make itself known. Cities like these aren’t completely foreign to the violinist, having traveled to different competitions in these areas before a couple years ago. Though those were typically with his grandmother and they took the trains instead, so in a way it was new to him as well. If he remembers correctly they’ll also have some free time tonight to explore the area around their hotel, which Haru had definitely not done before. He wonders what they’ll all decide to do later.

In front of them, Nagisa had finally woken up and was also pressed against the glass, fogging it up with how heavy he’s breathing with excitement. Next to him Rei simply shakes his head, but he’s obviously smiling fondly at the blond while also watching over his shoulder as well.

From the front of the bus, they hear Amakata-sensei mumble something to the bus driver, who then gives her the microphone/radio to announce over the speakers. “Okay okay, quiet down, everyone.” She announces with a smile, getting the attention of the orchestra members, “So, as you can tell, we’ve finally arrived in Osaka.” The talking starts up again and she shushes them. “Today is your free day to explore before the performance tomorrow…” She goes to explain some of the rules, such as how far away they can stray from the location of the hotel and to constantly be checking back in with her over text or phone call if they’re moving around to different locations. It’s obvious that most of the members are tuning her out and yet she still presses on. “With all that out of the way, have a good time and be careful. I don’t know how many of you would plan on doing this, but please don’t practice your instruments in the hotel room out of respect for other guests staying there, as they probably wouldn’t appreciate the noise. Thank you!” She puts the radio back in its place and sits again.

Now the noise is practically deafening as the orchestra erupts into conversation over where they want to go spend their free day in Osaka. Even Makoto turns in his seat towards Haru. “What did you want to do, Haru?”

“Yeah! What are we all doing?!” Nagisa buts in, completely turned around in his seat to face his friends.

Rei turns as much as he can in his seat without being completely turned like Nagisa and adjusts his glasses. “I was thinking we could visit a shrine. I hear they’re particularly beautiful here and are a great break from the city.”

“But we see nature scenery all the time at home…” Nagisa whines in protest.

“We could probably do that and a few other things. We have all day, after all.” Makoto interjects to make a compromise.

“I bet there’s so much good food here, I can’t wait to try it all!” The blond says, almost as if he didn’t even hear the cellist. Makoto knows not to be too bothered by it and just laughs.

With that, Rei and Nagisa branch off to their own conversation about what to do, so Makoto looks at Haru again. “So, anything you want to do?” He asks again since they were interrupted before.

“I’d like to try some restaurants as well.” Haru answers honestly. “A shrine would be cool, too.”

Makoto smiles, “Sounds like a plan. We can go somewhere for lunch and then visit a shrine.”

“Ooh, how about an arcade? Or karaoke?” The shortest says.

“Those sound fun, especially the arcade. I bet there’s a really big one around here.”

“We should shop, too. I want some new manga.”

Rei nods, getting even more excited. “I’d also really like to see a museum. Can we, Nagisa-kun?” He asks.

The other nods. “Sure, Rei-chan!”

Haru quirks up an eyebrow at that, not really seeing Nagisa as the museum type. He’s probably going just because Rei really wants to. With their plans in mind and the bus finally coming to a stop, everyone impatiently gets up and starts filing out of vehicle, going their separate ways once outside in the humid heat of Osaka.

\--

The first part of the day is extremely fun. The group hangs around together and hit all the spots they talked about before, almost as if they’d been friends for years instead of just a few weeks. It’s strange how natural things feel with them. Makoto and Haru are attached at the hip and the same can be said with Nagisa and Rei, but they all still feel connected and involved with each other. Haru even has a bonding moment with Rei when they’re all standing around at a (beautiful) shrine. There’s a great big stone fountain in the middle of a clearing that’s lined with shops as the temple itself is in the distance. Haru watched the water longingly, at that moment wishing he could have another swim. The blue-haired boy observes him curiously as his boyfriend and Makoto window shop at the surrounding booths. “You mentioned that you swam in high school?” He speaks up after a moment.

The other looks towards the second violin, nodding. “Yes.”

“As you probably already know, I joined up with Makoto and Nagisa in my second year,” He gazes off into the distance, a small smile gracing his features, “Even though we didn’t have enough people for a swim club, they swam together. I didn’t even know how to swim when I joined up with them...”

Intrigued, Haru stares at the bespectled boy, waiting for him to continue.

“Weirdly enough, the butterfly stroke was the only one I could figure out. I still felt bad a lot of the time, though… While we didn’t swim for competition, I still felt like I would drag the team down, time wise.” His smile starts to fade.

“From what I’ve heard from Makoto and Nagisa, it wasn’t really about that anyway. They always talk fondly about when you would all swim together.” He reminds him.

Rei lets out a small laugh, “Yeah, I suppose so. It’s hard to think otherwise sometimes, though.” He looks towards Haru with violet eyes. “Maybe you could show me a few pointers sometimes?” He suggests a little mischievously and nudges the swimmer with his elbow.

“I only swim free.” Haru answers matter-of-factly.

A louder laugh erupts from Rei this time with a wide grin. “Of course, how could I have forgotten?”

The raven-haired boy finds himself smiling too and follows his friend as they meet back up with Makoto and Nagisa.

Once they’ve paid their respects at the shrine and took some commemorative photos of each other and as a group, they begin their descent down the many stairs towards civilization. While walking down, Makoto seems uncharacteristically quiet. Every time he makes eye contact with Haru, his face seems to get red and he looks away quickly. At this point Haru has noticed that his brunet friends seems to get flustered pretty easily, but this just seems more excessive than usual. In front of them, Rei and Nagisa’s conversation momentarily distracts him from the taller boy next to him.

The blond excitedly presents Rei with a small present, an education omamori from one of the shops. The violinist accepts it graciously, his smile brimming with affection from the small trinket. Haru believes he hears Nagisa mention that he’ll need it when he goes to Tokyo to study in a few weeks. The other immediately brings around his bag and attaches it to one of the zippers, thanking the shorter profusely.

It’s a touching sight, Haru has to admit.  

Once they’ve finally reached the bottom of the stairs, they stop to regroup. “So, where to now?” Nagisa asks, hopping on the balls of his feet.

“I still wanted to see that museum nearby.” Rei states, pushing up his glasses.

“Oh, yeah! Mako-chan, Haru-chan, did you want to join us for that?”

Makoto glances at his friend in questioning, “What do you think, Haru?”

He shrugs one shoulder, “I don’t mind either way, really. Though I did kind of want to see that arcade that was nearby…”

“That’s fine!” The blond interrupts a little abruptly. “How about Rei-chan and I go to the museum and you guys go to the arcade? We can meet back up later to eat!”

While Makoto wasn’t sure if it was a great idea for them to split up, he did find himself wanting to spend more time with Haru one-on-one. “That’s fine with me.”

“Me too.” Haru says.

“Okay, then it’s decided!” The blond grabs Rei’s hand, already forcefully pulling him in the opposite direction. “See you guys later!” He calls over his shoulder.

Haru blinks a few times, feeling as if he got a bit of whiplash from that sudden departure. Makoto must have experienced the same because he’s quiet for a second as well. “Well Should we get going?” He asks the brunet.

“O-Oh, yeah, sure!” He puts his hands in his pockets awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with the swimmer.

Haru purses his lips, tilting his head to the side in confusion. “Makoto, what’s wrong?” He finally asks since he’s acted strange since the shrine.  

“I, um… actually have something to give to you.” He finally gathers up the courage to say, still avoiding eye contact by staring at the sidewalk below them.

Now he has Haru’s attention. “What is it?”

“… Here.” Makoto says, taking one of his hands out of his pockets. With it comes a little gold charm wrapped in clear plastic. When Haru finally accepts it from Makoto, he realizes it’s an omamori charm, similar to the one that Nagisa had just given Rei. However, instead of the education one, it simply reads “Good Fortune” on the charm.

At first, he doesn’t even know what to say, turning it over a few times in his hand to see every part of it. Across from him, Makoto’s face is bright red as he rubs the back of his neck nervously. “I-I didn’t know if I should’ve gotten a more specific one, but I figured that the general one for good luck would be just as good as any other. It’s to, um, bring us good luck for our performance tomorrow, I guess?” He forces a small laugh.

Haru’s facial features soften at his friend’s words, looking up from the item in his hand to properly see Makoto. His heart beats slightly faster than before and he’s sure his own face is probably a bit red too. Unable to hold it back, he gives a big and genuine smile. “Thank you, Makoto. I love it.” He states simply.

The cellists’ mouth parts but no words come out, hesitating to find the right response. “Y-You’re welcome! I’m glad you like it, even though it’s not much.”

“It’s great.” He repeats, taking the charm out of the little plastic bag. He brings around the backpack he’s been carrying around and attaches the omamori string to one of the zippers, letting it hang loose. “For good luck.” He repeats, still sporting the ghost of a smile.

“R-Right!” Makoto feels giddy now, even if he’s still shaky from handing over the gift. He’s glad that Haru liked it, it took forever for Nagisa to finally convince him to buy it after he’d stared at them for what seemed like forever. He also got a few for his family, but they’re hidden away in his own bag for later. He had a nervous lump in his throat the entire walk down from the shrine and thankfully now it’s gone.

With that out of the way, they both get back on track, remembering that they were going to hit the arcade a few blocks down. Walking side by side, they talk comfortably, their elbows bumping on their way, though neither of them are bothered in the slightest.

\--

They spend a lot more time at the arcade than they originally planned. It was huge with so many games to choose from. Of course, the two were immediately drawn to the more rhythm-centric games, wondering if their experiences in music would be any help in winning. While it’s true they were probably better than the average player trying them for the first time, the answer was still effectively: no, they were still bad. Haru held it together a little better than the brunet, especially in the drum-beat games they played together. Honestly, they were probably both doing so badly because they constantly felt the need to sabotage each other’s games. It never stopped being hilarious and they easily lost track of the time.

When they got bored of the rhythm games, they split off to do their own things. Haru tried his hand at the ticket games that involved jackpot. He was surprisingly not bad, in the back of his mind thanking the good luck charm that hung from his bag. He was soon holding a healthy amount of tickets in his hands and pockets. He wanted to show off his winnings to Makoto, but he couldn’t find him. He probably wandered off to try something and Haru just didn’t notice.

With his pockets stuffed with tickets, Haru weaves through children and other people in the arcade towards the PRIZES booth. As expected, a lot of the prizes that were bigger than keychains were astronomically expensive. This didn’t both the black-haired boy too much; he only wanted something small as a souvenir.

As he looked in the glass cases, there was mostly a lot of junk. If he were still a kid he may be thrilled, but now it was a little harder to find anything actually meaningful. At the end of one of the cases, something finally caught his attention. It was a little set of sea creature keychains, ranging from dolphins, orcas, sharks, and other things. His mind suddenly wandered to the omamori on his back, and he suddenly felt the urge to get something for Makoto. While these were just cheap arcade prizes, he had to admit they were cute, and he was especially drawn to the orca. When he and Makoto swam together, that was the animal he thought of. A gentle giant.

Catching the attention of the employee, he exchanged the tickets for the keychain, holding it in his palm. He briefly wonders if it’s a bad idea to give it to the brunet, especially since his gift seemed so much more meaningful. He sighs, biting his lip in thought. He supposes it’s better than getting him nothing.

Before exiting the room, he sees a younger kid eyeing the prizes on the walls, looking a little disappointed as she didn’t have very many tickets in her hands. The violinist knelt down, simply exclaiming, “Here.” And giving the girl the rest of his tickets that he wasn’t going to use. She smiles brightly, thanking him quickly as she starts counting her total number of tickets now.

Once Haru leaves, he scans the crowd for Makoto again, finally spotting him over the crowd by one of the games. The raven-haired boy holds onto the gift tightly in his hand, weaving through the people towards his friend.

“Hey.” He announces his presence once he’s next to the brunet (who’s currently entranced in an old retro game).

“Hey,” He answers, though doesn’t stop playing until finally his last life is up. He curses quietly under his breath, which Haru thinks is cute. He never hears Makoto curse much (probably due to having younger siblings). The taller straightens up and smiles at Haru. “I wish I could keep playing but I’m going to run out of money at this point.” He says with a laugh.

Haru nods in agreement. His wallet also feels a little lighter after their adventure too. “I got you something.” He says abruptly.

“Oh…?” Makoto asks, surprised.

Contrasting how Makoto presented his present earlier, the violinist just holds out his hand with the orca keychain without any hesitation. “I got this for you… from the prizes booth.”

Makoto smiles happily, graciously accepting the small trinket. “I love orcas!” He laughs, “Nagisa used to say that we all had a respective animal when we were on the swim team. I was an orca, he was a penguin, and Rei was a butterfly. Did he tell you about that?”

“N-No…” Haru answers honestly.

“Oh, well, then what a coincidence!” The brunet also brings his bag around, clipping it to a zipper; much like Rei and Haru had done with their charms earlier. “I love it. Thank you, Haru.” He says sincerely, his eyes drooping with that soft expression that makes Haru feel warm and safe every time he sees it.

“You’re welcome, I’m glad I picked out the orca… I actually have a little dolphin similar to it. In my bathroom.” He explains.

“I’ve seen it, above the tub, right?” Makoto laughs, and Haru can’t help but snicker as well in response. It’s such a childish thing, and yet it’s the right amount of fun and silly to indulge in.

“Well, I got a text from Nagisa a few minutes ago wanting to meet back up to eat. Are you ready?” He asks.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

They leave the arcade and step out into the Osaka night life, the air much cooler than it was during the day. They were in there much longer than they expected, evident by the setting sun and neon city lights around them. Together they retrace their steps to their meet up spot, staying close together like they had done earlier.

\--

Dinner was eventful. Instead of stopping at any particular restaurant, they got distracted by street vendors and simply couldn’t help themselves. They bought food from all over; it reminded them of their trip to the Iwatobi summer festival. It was all delicious, even if Makoto was feeling stuffed and slightly sick from the amount of fried foods he consumed. Nagisa noticed Haru and Makoto flaunting their new gifts and proudly presented his own as well. It was a penguin plushie that Rei found while they were walking (where he got it exactly is a complete mystery to Haru) and the blond presented it proudly, as if he won the gift contest. The crowds bustled around them and created a comfortable white noise as they ate and talked about their day.

“So, are you guys ready for your performance tomorrow?” Nagisa asks, taking another bite from his candy apple.

“They’ve been practicing a lot, I’m sure things are going to go well.” Rei answers with a smile.

“It’s going to be perfect.” Haru answers confidently, turning towards Makoto for validation on his statement.

“I… y-yeah!” The brunet responds, albeit shakily. Somehow in the midst of their tourist day, the stress of the duet had completely left his mind. He really wishes they hadn’t brought it up because now he feels worried all over again.

Nagisa can sense the hesitation in the taller’s voice and his grin fades just slightly. It comes back easily though, and thankfully he changes the subject. “I think you’re all going to sound great! Sometimes I wished I played an instrument so I could be in the band.” He puffs his cheeks out in a comical pout.

“I’ve been trying to get you to learn an instrument since high school, Nagisa-kun. You always showed no interst in string instruments!” The violinist crosses his arms.

“Yeah, _string_ instruments! I wanna play percussion! Oh, or trumpet!”

Rei sighs. “Of course you’d want to play the loudest instruments.” He mumbles, defeated.

Nagisa laughs loud and proudly at that. “Well of course!”

The blond had always been able to read Makoto well throughout high school, and it really comes in handy sometimes. He could tell that he felt uncomfortable with the mention of the duet looming over them and effectively got the attention off of him. Now Haru watches Rei and Nagisa converse instead of being worried about Makoto’s anxiety.

The cellist sighs quietly, staring down at his feet on the side walk. He’s really going to have to pull himself together before the performance tomorrow.

\--

The journey back to the hotel is a bit more quiet and contained than they were earlier that day. Being out in the sun all day and doing as much as they could really drained them, evident by their sluggish pace and constant yawning. Also the ungodly amount of food they just ate isn’t helping at all.

The hotel is nice and Makoto really wishes he could just go up to their room and immediately fall into bed. The check in for the whole orchestra takes a while, and when they all finally have their respective room keys, that’s only when they’re allowed to split up. They say their goodbyes to Rei and Nagisa (who somehow managed to room together, Haru doesn’t want to know the kind of manipulation Nagisa pulled on Amakata-sensei to make that happen) and board the elevator with some others. In their sleepy haze, they exchange few words, only asking if either of them wants to take a shower that night and if they’ll take turns. As tired as he is, Makoto says he’ll shower that night and Haru will take a bath in the morning. Unlocking the door to their room, they step in, dragging their suitcases and bags behind them with a bit of difficulty.

Makoto notices the decent-sized room with a simple television, refrigerator, and small bathroom. However, he stops dead in his tracks when he notices the one bed in the middle of the room. Haru bumps into him when he suddenly stops and grunts from the impact. “What’s wrong?” He asks, trying to look over Makoto’s shoulder.

“Th-There’s only one bed…” The brunet says.

Haru doesn’t even seem to be bothered, instead just navigating around his friend to put his bag on the said bed. “Yeah, looks like it.” He says indifferently.

“Isn’t that some sort of mistake?” Makoto elaborates, concerned by Haru’s lack of interest.

“Most likely not. They probably made people share beds to save money.” He yawns, stretching his arms over his head. “I know the girls do it a lot of the times, doesn’t surprise me that they made the guys do it too.” As he’s explaining this, he’s already opening his bag to locate his sleep shirt and shorts. He quickly takes off the current shirt he’s wearing and replaces it with a looser, baggy T-shirt.

The cellist blushes and glances away. “Oh, right, th-that makes sense…” He feels silly for asking, though it doesn’t change the fact that he’s going to have to share a bed… with Haru. His friend that he’s been feeling a lot more than friendly feelings towards lately. Instead of dwelling on it anymore, he also sets his stuff down on his side of the bed and retrieves his pajamas. “I’m going to shower real quick.” He announces, stepping into the bathroom. He vaguely sees Haru finish changing and immediately get into bed, his back facing the brunet before he closes the door to the bathroom. With a small sigh, the cellist strips and steps into the shower, keeping the water temperature a little cooler than normal.

\--

Even though Makoto took a quick shower, Haru was already asleep by the time he emerges from the bathroom. By this point Makoto is dead tired, not even caring about sleeping in the same bed as he happily climbs in. He tries to keep his distance from the violinist to not crowd him, but he can still feel his body heat from the other side. He hears the other breathe softly, his shoulders rising up and down in a rhythm. Despite his exhaustion, a constant uneasiness pulls on his chest, making him extremely uncomfortable. He wants to toss and turn to try and find a more comfortable position, but he also doesn’t want to disturb the boy next to him. The result is him laying uncomfortably still, trying to think of anything he can to distract himself from Nagisa’s comment earlier that night.

_“So, are you guys ready for your performance tomorrow?”_

Haru may be, but Makoto absolutely is not. Can he play the music? Absolutely. Can he play the music for a crowd of hundreds of people when he’s going to be the center of attention?

That’s a whole different story.

He doesn’t know exactly when it happens, but he finally feels himself fall into an uneasy sleep, his anxiety never truly leaving him as he loses consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason I chose the remix of Rewrite the Stars from the The Greatest Showman soundtrack was because someone was oh so kind to leave me an extremely sweet personal Tumblr message about this fanfic and suggested the song! (I'm not sure if they want me to put their tumblr url here, so for now I will leave it out). While I may not be the biggest fan of musicals, it's a very beautiful song, please check it out! The link is below and at the appropriate time it's listened to in the fanfic. 
> 
>  
> 
> [The Greatest Showman - Rewrite the Stars (Violin/Cello version by The Piano Guys)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cINJwaAn4Y)
> 
>  
> 
> Also, for those of you who are unfamiliar, omamori's are Japanese charms usually sold at shrines. They can mean a variety of specific things and they are usually bought and given to friends or family. They don't have heavy religious context and therefore are great gifts for everyone. Nagisa gave Rei an Education omamori, which basically gives Rei good luck on his studies for at least a year. And of course, Makoto gave Haru a Good Fortune omamori, which essentially brings Haru overall good luck and success in his life. This is also a hint hint wink wink to the new Free! movie if anyone's seen it. Momo and Nitori buy Rin and Sousuke omamoris when they all visit a shrine together :) 
> 
> And with that, thank you so much for reading this chapter! Please leave comments and kudos. I really like to hear what you think of the story, as well as song suggestions or anything else, my tumblr messages and inbox are wide open. Your suggestions will most likely end up in the fic lmao. Thanks guys!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello...
> 
> Bleeehhh this took me forever to write and I'm not even that happy with it. Regardless, it's here though, which is better than nothing! This is the chapter a lot of you have probably been waiting for so I hope it ended up delivering in some way. I will have to back through later to proof read and edit again, for now I just really wanted to get this thing out here since it's at least done.
> 
> Comments and kudos are extremely appreciated. I am 1000% more likely to update quicker if people leave simple comments saying they liked the fic. Thank you to those who have supported me so far, please enjoy!

_Makoto, with shaking hands, adjusts his suit, already feeling the bullets of sweat forming in his hairline and the back of his neck. His surroundings feel distorted, sounds muffled, the lights hot and blinding. The cello in his hand doesn’t even feel real, too heavy, too hard to hold. His mind is so hazy, so unfocused, and he begins moving towards the lights unprompted. He doesn’t even notice that Haru is next to him, calm, staring forward with no changing emotion. He tries to say something, to get the violinists’ attention, and yet he’s ignored as they take their place in the middle of the stage. Makoto’s body is on autopilot, sitting in his chair and bringing the instrument up to play even though his body is screaming for him not to, that he’s not prepared. He should be looking at his cello, the strings, the ground, anything else but the looming audience. And even though they’re only seconds away from beginning the duet, the brunet is transfixed on the hundreds of people in the audience. They stare blankly at him, judgmental and threatening. By this point Makoto’s face is dripping with sweat, obstructing his vision, his shaking hands trying desperately to wipe his forehead. Through the muddled noise around him, he hears Haru begin playing, not waiting for Makoto and catching him off guard. His heart leaps in his throat, beating so hard and quickly that he’s afraid going to have a heart attack. His fingers scramble on the fingerboard, trying to keep up with Haru’s playing. Where are they? Is this even the tempo? Is this even the song they’ve chosen?!_

_Makoto’s playing is loud, off beat, hard to listen to. He tries to get Haru’s attention subtly, giving him the little shake of his head they agreed would prompt each other to find the nearest break to stop in the song. But the black-haired boy won’t even offer him a glance, continuing to play his own music beautifully with precision and grace. The brunet stops all together, shaking with tears starting to stream down his face. He looks out towards the audience again, watching them cross their arms, lean over to their neighbors to mumble and complain about the abysmal performance the cellist had given them. The whispering gets louder, almost deafening combined with the playing of violin right next to him. All he can do is stare, completely overwhelmed and mortified. Each glare from the audience was like a stab to his chest. He desperately wants to just disappear, to cease existing. Everything is too loud, he brings his hands up to his ears, his cello falling to the floor in front of him, the sound of it hitting the ground equal to an explosion. The expensive wood cluttering to the ground doesn’t even register as he presses his hands to his ears, squeezing his eyes shut and curling in on himself in his seat. It doesn’t change anything. The violin blares in his ears, so calm, composed, perfectly played. Please, just make it stop…!_

Makoto jolts awake, a gasp ripping from his throat. He scrambles to sit up, panting, clutching the material of his shirt against his chest as he feels his heart race beneath the skin. He’s shaking as he tries to collect himself, taking deep breaths and assessing his surroundings. It slowly comes back to him that no, he’s not on stage; there’s no audience, just him and Haru in this hotel room. It’s dark, the only light being the moonlight streaming from the window as the white noise of the air conditioner drones quietly. He takes another breath, taking one of his shaky hands and running it through his sweat soaked hair. His green eyes glance to the boy on the bed next to him, wondering if he had woken him up. From what he can see, it looks like he’s stayed asleep, much to the brunet’s relief.

As quiet as possible, Makoto takes the blanket off of him and swings his legs around to the side of the bed to stand. He’s still shaky, the intense feelings from the dream not fully leaving him yet. He goes into the bathroom, shutting the door before turning on the light. It makes him squint for a second as his eyes adjust. He turns on the faucet, splashing his face with the cool water and taking a small drink of it from his hands as well. He starts to feel a little better and tired all over again. While he wants to stay awake for a while to fully shake the dream, his body desperately wants to sleep.

He sluggishly leaves the bathroom, slipping back into the small bed. While before he tried to as hard as possible to stay in his space, he found himself not caring anymore as he spreads out more to be comfortable. While it does put him in Haru’s space more, he hardly cares as he falls back asleep.

\--

 Haru wakes up before his alarm and really doesn’t want to get out of bed. It was the first time he’s slept so peacefully for a while, mostly due to the cool air conditioned room and Makoto’s presence beside him. He did remember waking up during the night when the brunet got out of bed to use the restroom, though it didn’t take long for him to drift off again. He doesn’t even remember the other getting back in to bed.

The violinist slowly opens his eyes, adjusting to the sunlight coming in through the window. He’s met with the bleary sight of Makoto’s sleeping face and blinks a few times to get his eyes to focus. For a moment he freezes, wondering if he should back off a little, not expecting to accidentally get so close to his friend while they slept. When Makoto doesn’t stir and just continues to doze peacefully, Haru relaxes, observing his facial features much like he did a few nights ago at his house. Unlike that night, something seems different about Makoto now. His brows are pinched together and mouth not as relaxed, making Haru wonder if something happened and the brunet was subconsciously worried about something. It made him frown. He doesn’t like the idea of Makoto being upset, it doesn’t suit him.

Before he gets caught staring, the black-haired boy slowly turns over so that he can get up and start his morning tasks. As he goes to take a bath, he remembers to turn off the alarm on his phone to let Makoto rest.

\--

“Thirteen minutes?!”

Haru simply nods to Nagisa’s exclamation, taking another bite from his breakfast and chewing.

The blond looks between the two, shocked. “Why such a long duet?” He asks.

The violinist swallows his mouthful before answering. “It was just our favorite one we found. Amakata-sensei didn’t mind either so we just went with it.”

“Well, I hope you guys practiced a lot then! Well, actually, of course you did, it’s gonna sound awesome.” The boy laughs good-heartedly, resuming his meal as well.

  
Rei speaks up next to him. “I looked up the song after Haruka-san and Makoto-senpai told us what it was. It’ll be a great finale for the orchestra, the audience will definitely appreciate the beauty in it.”

Nagisa giggles and Haru even smiles, feeling himself grow more excited as well. Next to him, however, Makoto has been eerily quiet all morning. He first noticed in the hotel room when he was finished with his bath. The brunet was already dressed, sitting on the bed and looking over their marked sheet music intensely. Few words were exchanged between them as Haru got ready, quietly watching the cellist mark even more stuff in the margins. He wanted to say something along the lines of them being prepared enough, to not make any last minute changes to cause confusion, but honestly Haru has no idea what Makoto is like before a performance. It could be something he does every time, and the black-haired boy knows how important a pre-performance routine can be to some people. Therefore, he said nothing, only waiting for him to finish so they could meet Nagisa and Rei for breakfast.

Despite what Haru originally thought, he’s even stayed mostly silent even with his friends around. He answers normally when addressed and manages to keep a straight face, but Haru can tell something is wrong. He’s barely eaten, taking one bite of his toast every couple minutes, chewing slowly as if he can barely stomach it. It’s making Haru extremely anxious. Nagisa and Rei have noticed too, exchanging worried glances during the meal.

It’s time to go back up their rooms and officially change and get ready for the performance. It’s what they’ve been working towards for a few weeks and it’s obvious by how giddy and excited surrounding orchestra members are as they separate into their rooms. Makoto and Haru walk side by side at first, Haru slowly trailing behind so that the brunet leads the way and that he’s standing closer to Rei and Nagisa. They wait for the elevator for a moment and when the door opens, Makoto goes to step in. When no one follows, he pauses, one foot in the door. “Aren’t you coming?” He asks, mostly to Haru, but somewhat Rei and Nagisa as well.

“You go on ahead.” Haru says in a cool tone.

“Yeah, we’ll be up in a minute! Um… R-Rei-chan wanted to go over some of his music with Haru-chan before we got ready!” Nagisa lies, extremely grateful that Rei did happen to have his music folder under his arm at that moment.

Green eyes glance between the three suspiciously. He’s too tired to question any further even though he knows that something is up. “Okay, that’s fine. I’ll see you up there soon, Haru.” He tells the violinist, stepping into the elevator and letting the door slide close in front of him.

A feeling of guilt stabs at Haru’s chest for a split second. He hated the look of worry that crossed the cellist’s face, but he HAS to talk to Rei and Nagisa in private. When they’re sure the elevator began ascending to a higher floor, they all turned to each other, frowning.

“Is he okay?” Nagisa asks Haru, his normally carefree self concerned.

He shakes his head. “I don’t know, I was going to ask you two... you’ve known him longer than I have. Have you ever performed with him before?”

They shake their head, even though the question was mostly addressed towards Rei. “No, I’ve mostly only pursued individual competitions, such as solos.” The blue-haired boy crosses his arms, deep in thought. “Makoto-senpai has mentioned that he has stage fright, but I’ve never known the extent of it. I assumed it was bad enough to the point where he avoided competitions and only participated in community orchestras.”

That stab of guilt from a moment ago comes back with a vengeance, as if someone twisted the knife in Haru’s chest. “Yeah… he mentioned it to me too when we first considered the duet. I just figured it wasn’t too bad since he decided to go along with it anyway.” He explains.

The two hum in thought. “Well…” Nagisa starts, “I’m not sure if there’s anything we can do. I guess you could try asking him about it, though that may make him more nervous.”

Haru sighs quietly, his blue eyes staring down at the floor. “I’ll see what I can do.” He responds, running through the possible options in his head.

Rei and Nagisa nod. “Thanks, Haru-chan. Even though you’ve only been with Mako-chan for a few weeks, I feel like he really trusts you. If anyone were to comfort him, I think it’d be you.” The shortest speaks softly, his gaze trusting as he observes Haru’s face.

A warm feeling blooms within Haru’s chest, making his neck and face feel a little red from an oncoming blush. As Nagisa said, he really hasn’t known this group for long, and yet he feels so close to them already. He never had a connection to anyone like Makoto, Rei, and Nagisa have with each other and to suddenly be a part of that dynamic, it makes him grateful. He feels like he’s already seen so many different sides of them, solidifying their connection. “I hope I can help.” He manages to say while struggling to find the right words.

A few seconds of silence wash over them as they’re unsure of what to do next. “Well, I should go find Amakata-sensei, she probably needs some help making some last-minute adjustments to the stage.” He says.

“Y-Yes,” Rei clears his throat, “That’s a good idea. I’ll see you later, Nagisa-kun.”

“Yeah!” Haru sees the blond subtly reach out and softly grip Rei's hand, giving it a small squeeze with a warm smile before he drops it. “Good luck with Mako-chan, I know you guys will do great. Tell him that I wish him luck as well.”

Haru agrees, watching Nagisa say a final goodbye and disappear through the hotel lobby and into the busy streets of Osaka.

\--

When Haru gets back to their room, Makoto’s already dressed, checking himself over in the full length mirror in the corner of the room. The classic black suit looks even better than he imagined, perfectly tailored to the boy’s muscular frame while still making him look professional, even elegant. Haru catches him fiddling with the tie around his neck before he quickly stops, acknowledging Haru. “O-Oh, hey.” He greets uncertainly.

The other can’t help but smirk and let out a small breath of a laugh through his nose. “Need help?” He asks, approaching the brunet.

“N-No, I can do it!” He tries to protest quickly.

Haru doesn’t stop, walking forward with purpose until he’s stopped directly in front of Makoto, his hands coming up to grip each end of the silk tie. “I don’t mind, it looked like you were struggling.” He says plainly.

Makoto’s breath is caught in his throat at having Haru this close. He’s suddenly so aware of their height difference, especially since the other’s head is bowed down in concentration. From here he can really see how soft his black hair is, perfectly complimenting his smooth, pale skin. It takes him a second to remember how to speak. “I can tie it myself; it just takes me a few times to get it right. I only wear suits when I’m performing…” _Which hasn’t been a lot…_ he almost adds on, but ultimately leaves that part off.

Haru hums, his graceful hands and nimble fingers slowly working the tie into its proper knot. At one point he glances up and accidentally makes eye contact with the olive green eyes he’s come to be so fond of in just a few weeks. His own eyes dart back down to the task at hand to save any more embarrassment. “Hey, Makoto?” He asks quietly.

“Yes?” The taller responds, tilting his head up slightly as Haru finishes tying and tightens the knot up so it sits comfortably on his neck.

Haru, not wanting to meet Makoto’s gaze just yet, even takes a second to reach up and fold the collar of his shirt over the tie as well. “Why’d you agree to the duet if you have stage fright?” He finally gets out, dropping his hands down from Makoto’s neck. Still staring at his chest, he sees the other’s breath catch.

Makoto’s briefly shocked by the question, holding his breath as he thinks of how to respond. “Um…” He brings a hand up to rub at the back of his neck, awkwardly looking to the side. “Th-The stage fright isn’t that bad, so I knew I’d be able to perform.”

Haru frowns, finally looking up at Makoto. “Then why do you seem like you’re going to pass out at any moment from nerves? You’ve been distant ever since last night. I don’t want to make you do anything you’re uncomfortable with, Makoto.” He tells him sternly and honestly. It’s like when they had agreed to swim and Makoto stayed quiet about his fear of the ocean. Haru hates feeling like he’s the one putting Makoto into uncomfortable situations.

“I’ve just never performed in anything that wasn’t a big group and I’m really nervous, is all. I just…” He sighs, running a hand through his hair. “I really want to perform with you, Haru. I’ve been looking forward to this ever since we planned it and, trust me; I’m also frustrated that I’m so nervous. I wish I had your confidence and experience when it comes to performing.”

The statement makes Haru’s skin crawl and he clenches his jaw. He doesn’t like when Makoto talks down to himself like this, it makes him upset that someone so kind sees themselves as not good enough. Now’s not the time to address this, as he doesn’t want to make the cellist feel any worse than he does already. “As long as you truly think you’re okay to go out there and perform this piece, then we’re going to sound great.” He says simply, wanting to say so much more, and yet in this delicate situation, he doesn’t want to say too much either.

For the first time in twenty four hours, it looks like a little bit of tension in Makoto’s shoulders releases. They relax and Haru notices just how tired and drained his friend looks from the stress. It gives him a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Thank you, Haru. I’ll do my best.” He smiles _that_ smile, the one that made Haru’s heart do a flip when they first met in that teacher’s lounge.

“You’re welcome…” He mumbles. Makoto steps around him, presumably to gather his instrument and other things. Haru knows he should get dressed now, to leave it at that and hope for the best. Before his friend can get too distracted from other things, he quickly turns around. “Makoto?” He calls out.

He stops, looking back at Haru curiously.

“If anything happens and we don’t finish the entire piece, just know that I won’t be mad and that everything will be okay.” He says in a rush of words.

After a beat of silence, Makoto tries to smile again, but it’s different. Not as genuine as the one before. “Right…” He turns back, resuming what he was doing before.

The sick feeling in Haru’s stomach doesn’t cease.

\--

Haru’s dressed in his suit and he’s feeling… good. As good as he can after his talk with Makoto earlier. Being dressed with his expensive instrument pressed under his jaw has him feeling almost nostalgic, since he hasn’t performed much since the passing of his grandmother. Long enough that he even noticed that the bottoms of his pants are just tad too short from growing. Surrounded by his bandmates, they’re already all on stage, playing miscellaneous warm-ups, scales, tuning, anything they can do in the few minutes leading up to their actual performances. Like any stage, the lights are bright, so bright that it’s even hard to notice the audience out there in the darkness. He can hear the drone of mumbling, coughing, kids babbling, all the noises associated with crowds.

As he’s lost in thought, a finger gently taps on his shoulder, and he turns towards Rei in the seat next to him. “Did you talk to Makoto-senpai?” He asks quietly (even though there’s no way anyone would be able to hear them over the noise of the instruments).

“I talked to him but I don’t know how much it helped.” He says honestly.

Rei hums in understanding. “Regardless, good luck.” He says, turning to face forward once again when it’s almost time for the performance and the orchestra goes silent. Everyone adjusts and rests their instruments on their laps in resting position, waiting for the last of the crowd to file in and for the clock to strike the hour so they can start.

Finally, after what feels like forever of sitting still and staring ahead professionally, Amakata-sensei walks out to center stage, wearing a conservative and stylish long-sleeved dress with matching black shoes. Her hair and make-up are done as well and while holding her conductor’s stick in her right hand she turns to the audience, giving a respective bow. The crowd claps politely as she turns towards the orchestra and steps onto her podium. The orchestra seamlessly raises their instruments into their respective playing positions, eyes glancing between their sheet music and the conductor’s stick held in the air, awaiting that first and definitive downbeat.

The downbeat finally comes, and Haru’s fingers move across his fingerboard. Their[ opening song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omg8M61lL7w&index=10&list=PLZZhJlLQuCrDXOwmJb5GXy9pbujhkF7gd) is nothing special, a short little three minute piece to get the audience (and the band) warmed up for what’s to come. The violinist almost rocks in time with the music, his bow gliding across the strings as Amakata-sensei conducts, moving her arms in time with the music and cueing various instruments when it’s their time to come in. It’s a faintly eerie song to start with, especially being in minor key. Haru feels in control, one with the music, the bass rattling his chest as his treble drifts dreamily through the air. While he knows he should only be focusing on Amakata-sensei and his music, his eyes often wander across from him to Makoto. He seems to be playing normally, like any other time for rehearsal. Concentrated, focused, his own fingers sliding up and down the neck of his instrument with confidence.

His eyes reflecting the white lights above them glance up, meeting Haru’s own like they’ve done many times that day. Instead of immediately darting away and pretending like they didn’t meet, the violinist lets the smallest smirk tug at his lips before he looks away, back down at his sheet music.

The song ends with a drawn out note, Amakata cutting them off and dropping her hands to her sides, their instruments going down with them. The audience applauds, and they turn to their next song.

Like every performance, everything moves by so quickly, it’s hard to believe they’re already onto the [second song.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kj8t90B_ug&index=4&list=PLZZhJlLQuCrDXOwmJb5GXy9pbujhkF7gd) Like most concerts, it starts as a slower piece between two upbeat ones, a common format to begin and end with something memorable. Haru doesn’t actually mind the slower pieces, it helps him practice tone and other things that aren’t just speed and technique. Other than an almost unnoticeable mistake from other band members once in a while, they sound good, making Haru feel more at ease.

After some time they finally reach their [last song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU1cTY_GLeA&list=PLZZhJlLQuCrDXOwmJb5GXy9pbujhkF7gd&index=3), an upbeat tune in a major key to end on something fun. Since their group is anything super elite, they have some wiggle room when it comes to the music Amakata-sensei chose for them. She was able to pick some pieces that may be below their skill level but it didn’t matter much as long as they sounded good. This particular song had some parts where the orchestra members would have to keep a beat on their legs or music stands, which made Haru roll his eyes the first time they did it. He’s never been a fan of songs that use other surroundings to make sounds, though they always tend to be a fan favorite. Thankfully he plays his instrument while the others do it most of the time.

The final downbeat for the song rings out in the air, lingering as it echoes off the acoustics of the show building for several seconds. Amakata finally lowers her hands for the last time, grinning happily at her band members. She mouths “Good job!” at them before returning to a professional face, turning on her podium to once again bow respectfully. Her heels click as she steps off the podium and towards a microphone on a stage near the end of the stage.

“Good afternoon, thank you all for coming to watch and support our community orchestra…” She trails off, giving the typical spiel of how the orchestra came together, some background information on the students who play in it, and what they had played for them just moments ago.

“For our finale of the night, I have asked two of my orchestra members to perform a duet for all of us. Our first violin, Haruka Nanase, and our first cello, Makoto Tachibana, are going to be performing a Beethoven piece they have chosen themselves. We hope you enjoy the performance and thank you very much for your support.” She bows one last time, placing the microphone back in its place and walking back towards the orchestra.

\--

After Amakata-sensei introduces him and Haru, it’s suddenly a lot harder to breathe than it was just a few seconds ago. It was their cue to rise from their seats and approach the center stage, and yet the brunet finds it hard for his shaky legs to move. He does manage to rise up, his hand in a death grip on the neck of his instrument. He glances towards Haru who’s also watching him, making sure they’re in synch as they approach the area that had been set up for them after Amakata introduced them. Nagisa (who was helping with stage work) had quickly run out to place a chair and stands where Makoto and Haru would perform.

As they walk across the wood floors, the remnants of his dream that’s been lingering all day have come back with full force. He feels too hot, too crowded, even in this wide open room. He stops in front of the audience with Haru beside him, gazing out at the nearly full house of people, young and old, watching them critically, expectantly. It takes the brunet a second to realize Haru was already bowing and he quickly copies him, already panicking that he looks unprofessional. Straightening up, he takes a couple steps back, carefully sitting down in his chair. He brings his instrument up, adjusting his stand and looking at the sheet music in front of him. Before, it looked so organized, the many notes and markings being a comfort. Now, it just looks messy, crowded, intimidating. He swallows a lump in his throat.

Trying to get himself to focus, he locks eyes with Haru, who’s watching him expectantly. When they make the connection, they bring their instruments up into playing position. Even though they practiced the beginning more times than Makoto can count, he still feels unsure, even when Haru’s head slightly bobs up and down with the tempo they’re taking the song.

In the end, it doesn’t matter. They can’t stall forever, and eventually Haru takes a small breath before they’re [playing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQQZaXVswTw), eyes glued to their music and instruments as they navigate through the piece. Even though Makoto didn’t feel ready, he has no choice, the creeping feeling of panic washing over him. His heart beats so fast that he can even feel it thrum against his chest, the sound roaring in his ears to the point where it nearly overpowers his ability to hear Haru and his own playing. Unlike when they’ve practiced, it’s as if Makoto’s sight reading the piece for the first time. He can’t keep up with Haru’s tempo, constantly falling behind or a note ahead. He sounds too crass, unable to follow the crescendos and decrescendos with the same grace and care the violinist manages. All efforts and thought of musicality fly out the window and at this point Makoto is only thinking of one thing: just get through it. This, unsurprisingly, is one of the worst things any musician can be faced with on stage in front of an audience.

In his peripheral vision, he sees Haru’s disgruntled expressions, constantly trying to adjust his playing to accommodate for Makoto’s lack of consistency in tempo and volume, trying everything he possibly can to somehow salvage this piece. As if things can’t get any worse, that’s when he can hear the murmuring from the audience. Even if he can’t make out a single thing anyone says, he doesn’t have to hear it, he knows they’re mortified, that such a talented orchestra could have a disgrace of a cello player.

Before things could get any worse, Haru is actually the one to give their signal to end at the most convenient place for the both of them (just a simple shake of the head). That’s when Makoto nearly loses it. An emotion of complete disappointment and failure washes over him all at once, threatening to spill over in the form of tears at any second. Mercifully, he manages to keep them in, sloppily ending at the nearest rest. An ear grating sound rings throughout the auditorium and it makes him cringe. He’s panting, his heart fluttering like a humming bird’s wings now. They only made it through about five minutes of a thirteen minute piece. He has to get out. He has to get out _now_.

The murmuring and whispering is deafening. That and the ringing in his ears from his out of tune playing make him deaf to anything else that could possibly be happening. Hastily, he stands, giving the smallest and quickest bow he can muster before he takes turns on his heels and practically runs off stage. 

Haru is left in the middle of the stage, shocked and left with whiplash at how fast things happened. When his mind catches up with him, all he can think is _I have to help him._ Like his partner had just done a second ago, he drops the violin to his side, offers a bow, and follows after the brunet through curtains on the side of the stage in pursuit.

Waiting for him is Nagisa, confused. “What happened?!” He calls to Haru when he’s in range.

He doesn’t answer. “Which way did he go…?!” He counters.

“That way, down the hall towards the dressing rooms.” The blond points.

Haru nods, shoving his violin into Nagisa’s arms to hold on to. “I’ll be back for it later.” He says all in one breath, breaking out into a run through the stage doors into the brightly lit hallways. “Makoto…!” He yells out in the hope he’ll get a response. When there isn’t one, he sets off down the hall, his dress shoes tapping loudly on the linoleum. Frantically reading the signs on the walls he finds his way around the building towards the dressing rooms. They’re unoccupied at the moment, probably only used when there’s a stage performance that requires make up and costume changes. “Makoto!” He yells again. He starts opening doors, peering inside in hopes to find the brunet.

Finally, the last door on the right, he looks in, seeing the cellist sitting in the corner of his room. He has his knees up to his chest with his arms resting on them as he stares blankly at the wall in front of him. Haru walks in, closing the door behind him. “Makoto…?” He calls out, softer this time. Makoto doesn’t respond verbally, instead shifting his gaze over to the other standing by the door. His eyes are red and irritated and it makes Haru’s heart ache. He still doesn’t offer a word, making Haru even more nervous as he fully enters the room and lets the door shut behind him with a soft click. “Are you okay?” He tries instead.

Makoto almost laughs at that, running a hand through his hair that’s still clammy with the sweat that’s just now drying. “No…” He answers honestly, an exhausted and sad smile on his face.

Haru moves across the dimly lit room, only one of the overhead lights illuminating the space. He joins the brunet on the floor, pressing his back against the wall before sliding down to sit. He’s never been in a situation like this where he has to comfort someone. He’s just never been great with words his whole life. He has to think of _something_ to help his friend who looks like he just committed the worst crime known to man. “Everything’s going to be okay, Makoto.” He settles for.

Next to him, the cellist nearly scowls. “No, it’s not.” He counters sternly. He drops one of his legs to the floor while keeping the other bent to prop his arm up on. “It’s not okay. I-I was so nervous; I knew I should’ve just called it off. I don’t know why I even tried to perform that duet; I can barely even audition in front of a few judges to get a chair placement in an orchestra.” His voice steadily rises in volume, though never loud enough to be considered angry or yelling. All the while, he still doesn’t look Haru in the face while he speaks. “It was stupid, and now I’ve made a complete idiot of myself in front of the whole orchestra and hundreds of people.”

Haru listens intently, observing the boy next to him as he speaks. When there’s a beat of silence and he’s sure the other isn’t going to continue, he says, “Just because we didn’t finish the piece doesn’t mean that you’ve failed.” He settles for.

Makoto finally meets his eyes, seeming shocked by the statement. “ _Of course_ it does. If I wasn’t able to get through it, that means I failed. I probably disappointed every single person in there, especially you.” He adds, his voice cracking from the effort to keep himself together.

Haru’s mouth gapes open at Makoto’s outburst, not able to get a word out before the brunet continues.

“You’re such an amazing musician, even when I was making mistake after mistake you managed to hold us together because you’re so accommodating. I-I agreed to that duet because I just wanted to play with you more, to spend more time with you.” His voice cracks again and he stops to swallow the growing lump in his throat. “You’re just so talented compared to me, things would have been better if Amakata-sensei had just asked you to do a solo-“

“ _Stop it._ ”

That startles Makoto into silence, eyes wide as he looks toward the violinist. Before he can even respond (or even register what’s happening), Haru surges forward, wrapping his arms around Makoto’s shoulders in a tight embrace. Both of their hearts beat rapidly in their chest and with Haru so close, Makoto can’t tell if what he’s hearing is his or Haru’s.

“H-Haru?” He calls out, keeping his arms at his sides, afraid to move them.

“ _Stop doing that._ ” He repeats and Makoto can feel the rumble of his voice against his chest. Haru loosens his grip, leaning back just enough so he can properly look at Makoto. This close, the brunet can see the slight glassy sheen that clouds the colbalt blue of Haru’s eyes as he searches them for answers. “Stop comparing yourself to me.” He clarifies, his voice surprisingly even for how unsure he feels. “You didn’t fail. You went out there and tried, that’s all I care about. I don’t care what anyone else thinks.” He says confidently.

Despite being the bigger of the two, Makoto suddenly feels very small and vulnerable under Haru’s piercing gaze. “Really…?” He asks quietly.

“Yes.” Haru says with no hesitation, once again pulling the other into a hug. The angle is awkward, especially with both of them sitting on the hard floor with their bodies angled towards each other. In this moment, though, it’s perfect. Still unsure, Makoto finally comes to wrap his arms around Haru’s waist, returning the tight embrace which draws the violinist in closer. They remain like that for a few seconds, Makoto gratefully resting his forehead on Haru’s shoulder. He smells like cheap hotel soap with the faintest hint of chlorine. “I wanted to spend time with you too, Makoto.” Haru adds.

Makoto can’t help it; he relaxes and smiles into the other’s shoulder. Haru can feel it and it almost makes him laugh with relief. “I’m glad you feel the same way.”

They remain like that for a moment, the only sounds in the room being their even breathing and an electric hum coming from the light above them. Finally, they loosen their grips and lean back. Instead of parting completely, however, they pause, their faces close. Makoto’s hands rest gently on the small of Haru’s waist while Haru’s own stay on his broad shoulders. He knows that they’re too close and yet something keeps them drawn to each other like a magnet. Before he can stop himself, Makoto’s eyes dart from Haru’s eyes down to his lips. Haru barely has any time to register or notice because, coincidentally, he’s doing the same thing. Once again, their pulses thrum insistently, the calm and safe atmosphere from before turning into something more… risky.

Haru’s afraid to move, afraid to do anything. What if he makes the wrong move and destroys everything? He swallows, mind racing a million miles a minute as he considers his next move. The fact that Makoto hasn’t pulled back yet gives him a boost of confidence. Carefully, he trails his hand up from Makoto’s left shoulder and up to card through the short hairs on the back of his neck and rests it there.

Makoto lets out a shaky breath which almost scares Haru away, but the brunet’s hand tighten on his waist. The pressure isn’t enough to keep him trapped, but enough to emulate the message that Haru doesn’t have to back away unless he wants to. He doesn’t, instead continuing to glace between Makoto’s imploring gaze and his lips.

They breathe shallowly, their lips parted as together they begin to inch forward to close the space between them. Haru feels drunk off of anticipation, his eyes drooping and already threatening to close before they even make contact.

When they’re a hair’s length away, Makoto stops, eyes also half-lidded. “Is this okay…?” He asks quietly in almost a whisper. His breath fans over Haru’s face and they’re so close that their lips almost brush when Makoto speaks. It causes goosebumps to break out all over Haru’s body.

He nods once in reassurance and, finally, their lips brush together. It can hardly even be considered a real kiss since it was so soft. Both of their lips are slightly chapped and yet, it can’t be any more perfect. After the initial contact, they pause again, assessing what to do. To Haru’s surprise, Makoto is the one to close the distance again, daring to be bolder than before. This time they meet for a real kiss, insistent but unhurried. Haru tilts his head to the side slightly to give him a better angle and that’s when things become absolutely perfect. Their lips slide together in perfect synch. It was everything they’ve both wanted since they began to develop feelings for each other.

Even when they became more bold and weren’t afraid to apply more pressure, they still kept things slow and sweet. Every racing thought they had before is replaced with thoughts of each other and the kiss. Haru wants nothing more than to grip Makoto’s hair tightly in his grasp, to slide his tongue along the taller’s bottom lip and ask for permission to take things further. As much as he _wants_ that, he knows there’s a place and a time, and now is neither of those.

Their kiss gradually slows down to what it was before which is the definition of gentle and kind, just like Makoto. Ultimately Haru is the one to finally pull away, even if he really doesn’t want to. His hand trails back down to Makoto’s shoulder and he leans back enough to see the other properly. His face is red, obviously flustered about what just happened. Haru probably doesn’t look much better either.

Makoto clears his throat. “W-We should probably get back…” He mumbles.

“Yeah… Haru agrees, removing himself completely so that he’s sitting like he was before. “Are you going to be okay…?” He asks the brunet. He knows that once he finds the others he’s going to be met with a ton of questions which could possibly be overwhelming.

Makoto smiles and it makes Haru automatically soften. “I’ll be fine, you really helped me. Thank you, Haru.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll come with you.” He tells him definitively.

Together, they rise from the floor, brushing themselves off from being on the floor and leaving the dressing room. As they walk down the empty halls towards where the band would be, Haru keeps a close eye on Makoto. He knows they have a lot to talk about regarding the kiss they just shared but for now, there are more important things to be concerned with. They have to deal with the consequences of their performance before the question of _them_ can be answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Makoto comforting Haru: Good
> 
> Haru comforting Makoto: G R E A T
> 
> I hope this wasn't too OOC, this was just a nightmare for me to write. 
> 
> Songs:
> 
> [Fugue from Requiem in D Minor arr. Loreta Fin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11051598/chapters/34119251)   
>  [Symphony No. 5, arr. Jim Palmer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kj8t90B_ug&index=4&list=PLZZhJlLQuCrDXOwmJb5GXy9pbujhkF7gd)   
>  [Yumiweeus, by Richard Meyer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU1cTY_GLeA&list=PLZZhJlLQuCrDXOwmJb5GXy9pbujhkF7gd&index=3)   
>  [L. van Beethoven: Duet for Violin and Cello in C major](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQQZaXVswTw)
> 
> Thank you all for your patience and sweet comments, they really do help me write. In the next chapter, tags will be edited and the rating will go up sooo be ready for that ;)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @MYSELF: HELLO???????? WHY DOES IT TAKE YOU TEN YEARS TO UPDATE??????
> 
> I'm back with another chapter, yay!! This is The Big Chapter, the one that really changes everything. Please note the rating change!! And the new tags!! This is where it heats up y'all *eyes emoji*
> 
> I do apologize for how long it took me to get this out. It's just I work all the time plus school like man... I'm so exhausted lmfao it's 3am as I'm posting this.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who's continued to read this far, but an even bigger thank you to the people who comment and leave kudos! You guys are the ones that keep me motivated to write. Without you this fic probably wouldn't have come this far. I love you guys, and to any new readers, please comment and leave kudos! I am not exaggerating when I say it means the world to me :')
> 
> Okay I'm gonna shut up I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE CHAPTER

The walk back to the stage area is both dreadful and elating. The last few moments he had spent with Haru still leaves his heart racing. His presence next to him feels even more intimidating and exciting than it ever has before. They haven’t said a word to each other as they walk through the hallways towards the noise of backstage, but that’s probably for the best. He doesn’t trust what would come out of his mouth if Haru were to engage him in a conversation right now.

Finally, they reach the doors to backstage. Behind them, the sound of loud chatter fills the space and makes Makoto feel even more nervous than before. He knows he’s going to have to go in and confront Amakata-sensei and poorly explain what happened. He looks down at his dress shoes, trying to catch his breath. Behind him, he feels Haru gently place a hand on his right shoulder. Surprised, the cellist looks up to see Haru’s kind expression. “It’ll be okay.” He tells the brunet confidently.

Haru’s faith in him gives him the courage to face forward and enter the backstage area. The stage floor creaks as they move and the talking continues as few have noticed his return yet. Amakata-sensei stands a few feet away, her back turned to them as she talks to Nagisa in a hurried and hushed voice. Rei is also seen standing off to the side, speaking with another orchestra member in a voice too quiet for Makoto and Haru to hear. Since Nagisa is facing them, he glances up when he sees the doors open and his attention is drawn away from whatever Amakata-sensei was saying. “Mako-chan!” He exclaims loudly, moving around the director as he jogs over to the two of them. Before Makoto can even utter a word, a pair of arms wrap around his middle tightly. “Are you okay? We were so worried about you!” The blond asks desperately, his glassy eyes peering up at his friend with worry.

Still startled, Makoto simply returns the awkward hug. “I’m okay, Nagisa.” He says, even if he’s not even sure if that’s the truth.

The other sniffs and let go of him, nodding weakly. Behind him, Amakata-sensei finally approaches them, her short heels clicking on the ground. Makoto doesn’t even wait for her to say anything before he bows deeply, his arms stiff at his sides and his eyes squeezed shut. “I’m sorry!” He says loudly in one breath.

The commotion has attracted the attention of most of the band members now, forming a crowd around Makoto and his friends. The brunet doesn’t move, still bowed deeply. “I’m so sorry that I ruined the performance, I don’t know what came over me. I am so very sorry to you and the orchestra.” He repeats. His cheeks and ears now burn red with embarrassment.

Amakata-sensei is shocked, not even sure what to say to the student bowed before her. “Tachibana-san, please stand up.” She tells him quietly.

Makoto swallows thickly, his body unsteadily moving back into the standing position. He’s afraid to open his eyes and officially face his director, feeling so ashamed of himself. Instead of being met with anger and disappointment, a small hand softly places itself on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Tachibana-san.” She smiles sincerely up at him, “It may have been a shock to the audience, but the performance was far from ruined.” She drops her hand, her smile faltering. “I feel as if I should apologize to you. I’m sorry that I suggested the duet and that you pressured into doing it, I should’ve gauged your nerves and known your limits. You were so nervous at the audition but I just thought it was a one-time thing, so I’m very sorry that I asked that of you.”

Makoto’s eyebrows furrow together at her words, becoming angrier with himself by the second. “You shouldn’t apologize for my mistake. I misjudged how I would be able to perform…” He trails off, avoiding eye contact.

“Well for the upcoming performances we can easily take off the duet so that you’ll feel more comfortable-“

“N-No!” The brunet interjects abruptly, startling the director as she’s cut off. He awkwardly clears his throat at the outburst and straightens up his posture to show that he’s serious. “I want to try again.”

Haru and the others around them seem surprised and watching the cellist wearily. “You do?” Amakata-sensei asks, her voice unsure.

“Yes, please let me try again!” Before he realizes it Makoto bows again in desperation to get his request across. “I want to show that I can overcome the stage fright and put on a great performance. I don’t want to leave this impression on you, the orchestra, and especially Haru.” The last sentence seems to tumble out of his mouth before he can help it, but he doesn’t want to take it back. He completely meant it. He was not going to let his last performance with Haru be one that failed miserably.

Amakata-sensei ponders for a moment, looking unsure as she searches for an answer. When a couple seconds of struggled silence drag by, she sighs. “Okay, you can try again. I have faith in you, Tachibana-san. However if at any moment before the performance you feel any doubt about going through with it, there is no shame in backing out, you just let me know.” She smiles again, “Okay?”

A weight is lifted off of Makoto’s shoulders and he nods quickly. “Yes, of course! Thank you so much Amakata-sensei, I won’t let you down next time.” He says.

With that, the director seems satisfied, turning her attention back to the other members of the orchestra who had been gawking for a good couple minutes at this point. “Okay everyone, let’s get all of our stuff together and put it back on the bus. Tomorrow we leave Osaka for our next performance. You have some free time to roam the city for a few hours tonight but remember your curfew for the hotel room so you can all get a good night’s sleep.” A lot of murmuring breaks out through the orchestra as people begin shuffling away from the scene towards their things and instrument cases.

Makoto lets out a shaky breath from all the tension leaving his body. He turns around to see Haru behind him, looking concerned. “Are you sure about performing again?” He asks.

“Yes, I’m absolutely sure.” Makoto says. He’s never been more confident about anything else in his life.

The violinist must be able to sense that confidence within him as his expression softens and he smiles. “Okay, I believe you.”

Their eye contact lingers for a few moments longer, not quite able to break their gazes until their blond friend comes up and hugs Makoto again. “Mako-chan, I’m so glad you decided to still perform.” He says and lets the brunet go after only a few seconds.

From where he was standing earlier, Rei also walks up to them a little hesitantly. “Me too, I’m glad everything’s okay.”

“Yeah…” The cellist sighs, still experiencing the lingering feeling of disappointment deep in his chest. “I’m just not going to let that performance be my one and only attempt at a duet, no matter how bad the stage fright can be.”

The three of them nod in response. “Sooo, did you guys want to go out on the town then? It’ll be a good distraction! I don’t know about you but I’m really hungry.”

That statement is hardly a surprise, Makoto thinks, considering Nagisa’s appetite. He doesn’t really know how to tell his short friend that the last thing he feels like doing is eating right now, but he goes along with it anyway. The thought of getting away from the stage and into some fresh air sounded like just the thing he needs. “Sure.”

Makoto, Haru, and Rei grab their instruments from their places backstage and load them onto the bus with the rest of the band before going up to their separate hotel rooms to change. That whole process took about half an hour before they all meet back up together in the front lobby of their hotel. Makoto has to admit he feels a lot more comfortable in his casual clothes than the suit he was wearing before. Formal attire always put him in a stressful mindset.

The four walk out onto the busy street, the nightlife of Osaka coming alive around them. It was different than yesterday, when the hot afternoon sun beat down on them. Now it was cooler, and the glowing neon street signs illuminated their path. Rei and Nagisa walked at a steady pace in front of them, talking excitedly about the highlights of the performance while strategically avoiding the subject of the duet at the end. Part of Makoto is thankful for that, since he wishes he could wipe the entire thing from his memory. It was good to focus on the positives. He just wishes it didn’t make his heart sink even more when he’s reminded of it.

Ever since their kiss in the dressing room, there has been an exciting yet awkward spark between him and Haru. As they changed in the hotel room, not a word was exchanged between them unless necessary. Every once in a while they would catch one glimpsing at the other, in which they’d awkwardly shift down to the sidewalk in front of them again. Makoto bit his lip nervously. He really wants to discuss the events from earlier with the black-haired boy to ease the tension.

As they walk, Haru suddenly slows down to a stop, leaving the other three to keep walking for a few steps. Makoto is the first to notice and he halts too, staring at the violinist curiously. “What’s wrong, Haru?”

Haru doesn’t answer at first, shifting between the three standing in front of him. Finally, he takes a deep breath in and out through his nose. “I’d like to be with Makoto alone for a bit, if that’s okay.”

Rei and Nagisa share a look of surprise between them, the blond’s mouth even gaping a bit. “I mean, sure…! You could’ve asked earlier, we don’t mind.” He’s quick to respond and Rei nods.

Rei has a knowing expression, though tries to hide it by turning his head and pushing up his glasses. “You can text us later, if need be.” He adds for good measure.

Makoto has to shake his head slightly, trying to clear the many thoughts that are rushing through his head within the last couple moments. As the other two walk off into the busy crowds, he’s left alone with Haru, anxiously waiting to see what his next move is.

Before he can say anything else, however, the other cuts him off. “Follow me.” The black-haired boy says, stepping forward past Makoto and down the same street their friends had just disappeared a minute ago. When Makoto’s mind catches up with him, he wills his legs to finally move and follow the other. As they walk through the streets, he tries to keep track of the directions and what the street names are. It quickly turns out to be futile; he’s already getting turned around as Haru just continues to confidently lead him. He really hopes Haru remembers where they’re going because otherwise they’re going to end up lost. The other’s confidence in navigating Osaka also makes the brunet wonder if Haru is used to walking around cities (at least much more than Makoto is, since he’s only left Iwatobi a handful of times).

Finally, when they turn around a corner, the dense city opens up before them and a familiar breeze sweeps past their faces. Makoto can’t help but take a deep breath of the ocean air, since it reminds him of home. The lights of the cities and skyscrapers reflect off of the rippling surface of the water, creating an obscured mirror image of the city behind them.

As they cross a couple more streets, they reach some sitting areas by the beach where they can hear the waves crashing up onto the shore and washing back out again. Before Makoto can wonder for too long about why his friend had walked them all the way out here and what his plan is, Haru sits on one of the benches and pats the spot next to him. “Sit.” He instructs simply.

Makoto follows the order, gently taking a seat on the bench next to Haru. For a brief moment, the other doesn’t say anything, his deep blue eyes staring out over the ocean and at the moon.

“So…” The brunet clears his throat hesitantly, “Why did we walk all the way out here?”

Haru shrugs one shoulder, turning his body back towards Makoto. “The water is calming, especially at night.”

He can’t really argue with that. The smell of sea salt and the cool mist coming from the sea feels good, especially when the last few weeks have been so brutally hot. “Yeah...” He says.

“I just wanted a quiet place to talk. About the performance and what happened earlier in the dressing room."

The sinking sensation Makoto has been feeling all day just increased tenfold with those words. Suddenly there’s a large lump in his throat that he can’t seem to swallow. “Y-Yeah, sure.” He knew they were going to have this talk eventually. He’s been having this mental conversation with himself for the last hour and yet he still feels completely unprepared.

“Are you sure you want to continue on with the duet?” Is the first question Haru asks. It’s blunt, but honestly Makoto wouldn’t come to expect any more than that.

At least the cellist can answer this question easily. “Yes. Like I said earlier, I don’t want that to be the last memory of us performing together. I want the experience finishing a great performance with you and feeling proud as we bow to the audience together.” He meets Haru’s eyes as he says this, trying not to shy away so that the other can realize how serious he’s being.

Haru is quiet for a moment, letting the words sink in and properly process. While there’s still a nervous aura surrounding the idea, he believes Makoto. “Okay.” He accepts. There’s another moment of silence as the violinist looks down towards the ground and it’s almost as if Makoto can see the gears turning in his head as he tries to think of how to word his next question.

Makoto doesn’t let him dwell on it for long. He sighs, also looking towards his hands in his lap. “What are we, Haru?” He asks quietly.

The question hangs in the air, the potential answers to it looming over them like an intimidating cloud. Makoto could see how Haru’s shoulders tensed up when he finally asked the big question. In the longest five seconds of his life, Haru sits up straight, no longer slouching like he was before. With his body still tilted towards Makoto, he meets his imploring green eyes once again. “Whatever you want us to be.” He utters, almost inaudibly as a particularly loud wave crashes onto the shore.

Makoto frowns. “Well…”

Before he can voice his concern over the statement, Haru cuts him off. “I do like you, Makoto.” He pauses and Makoto knows that there’s more to the statement. “It’s just that I’ve never been interested in anymore before. My life has just been swimming and violin for as long as I can remember. In high school the people around me always talked about how much they were interested in someone or how much they loved their significant others. I never related to them, I just never saw myself ever involving myself with such things.”

Makoto drinks up every word that the violinist is telling him. He’s not used to Haru speaking so much at once and yet he feels honored that the mostly quiet boy is sharing these feelings with him. However, his chest starts to hurt even more by the words he’s saying. They don’t sound promising.

“But,” Haru catches his attention once he sees the brunet start to shrink in on himself. “After I’ve been with you the last few weeks, I’ve been... enjoying our time together. I’ve been thinking about us together. It’s something that I’m not used to…” He leans forward more, searching Makoto’s face for answers. “I know that I like it, though, and that I like you. With you, it feels like we’ve been friends for longer than we have. It’s nice to be around you. It feels calming and familiar, almost like home.”

At that last bit of information, Makoto feels a deep blush that goes all the way from his face all the way down his neck. He’s never been compared to the feeling of home before and for some reason, he can’t find a better description. He gets the same feeling when he’s with Haru. “I obviously like you too, Haru. I mean, it was pretty obvious with the kiss…” He loses his train of thought for a second when he thinks about it and quickly has to get himself back on track. “This is pretty new for me, too. Growing up I had typical crushes and stuff, but they never went anywhere. In high school I tried dating a couple girls. It was really awkward and never really went anywhere. I just thought it was a problem with me and that I just hadn’t found the right person I wanted to date.”

Haru’s brows furrow together for a moment. “Are you bothered that I’m a boy?”

“Wh-What? Oh no no, not at all.” Makoto quickly defends. “I mean, it is new to me, since I’ve, um, never been with a guy but…” He bites his lip nervously, “I’ve known that I’m not really… straight, for a while.” He tells the other.

That seems to help Haru relax. For some reason Makoto mentioning he had been with girls before made him feel nervous, though his explanation made sense to him. Haru never saw himself with anyone, women or men. “Well, then going back to what I said earlier… What do you want us to be?”

Makoto pauses to pretend as if he really has to think about it, even though he’s almost exactly sure of what he wants to do. “I’d like to try this…” He motions between them. “Try us.”

Haru has to bite his lip to hold back a wide smile that’s threatening to spread across his face. He nods. “I’d like that, too.”

“Does that mean we’re boyfriends?” The brunet has to ask explicitly or else he’ll always be afraid they’re not on the same page.

“Yes.” Haru says definitively.

Unlike Haru, Makoto can’t stop the wide smile that lights up his face. The anxious dread from before has been replaced with one of newness and excitement. He’s never felt this giddy in this sort of position before.

Makoto feels warm. Not the type of warm that a hot summer day brings, but the warm that is usually associated with the word “home”.

Makoto wonders if Haru’s feeling the same thing. Even in the dark with the bright skyline behind them he can see that the other looks content. While they were turned towards each other, they seem to have gravitated closer without knowing throughout their conversation. Now, their thighs nearly touch on the bench and their faces are close. Makoto glances up, looking into Haru’s eyes and seeing that his pupils have dilated. Like in the dressing room, he notices how they flick between his eyes and down to his lips, silently asking permission. As an answer, Makoto takes his bout of boldness and closes the gap.

Their lips brush together, soft as a whisper. It’s somewhat similar to the beginning of their kiss in the dressing room, but this time it doesn’t devolve into something more hurried. This kiss was simply rejoicing in their confession to one another. They brushed against each other with no real purpose, simply getting used to the feeling of one another. Haru slowly brings up one of his hands from his lap to gently place it on the back of Makoto’s neck, his fingers running through the soft brown hair. Goosebumps form all over Makoto’s body at the simple touch, his heart rate skyrocketing.

He shifts closer at that, taking one of his hands and placing it over Haru’s other. It’s a small gesture to symbolize that they can still take things slow, to not rush anything. Haru had never been interested in anyone in any way before, but now that he’s here and kissing Makoto, he knows that it’s going to be the only thing he’ll want to do forever.

After they’ve kissed for a few more moments (or it could’ve been hours, for all they knew), they reluctantly pull apart, slightly out of breath. Haru doesn’t remove his hand just yet, in fact, he continues to softly thread it through the short hairs. Makoto rests his forehead against Haru’s, glancing down at their joined hands. He feels so happy that he might burst.

“We should really get back to the hotel…” Haru’s voice interrupts the sound of the ocean after a few seconds, breaking Makoto out of the dreamy trance he's been in.

The brunet lifts up his wrist and his watch comes to life to display the time. It is getting dangerously close to their curfew that Amakata-sensei had set for them. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Haru’s hand slips down from his neck and they pull apart, getting themselves up and stretching after sitting for so long. “I hope you remember how to get back, Haru. I couldn’t keep track when you were leading me out here.” The cellist says once they start walking away from the ocean into the busy city.

“I remember how to get back.” He responds confidently.

They make a few wrong turns on the way back though Makoto figures it’s close enough.

\--

They remember to message Nagisa and Rei to apologize for ditching them earlier and say that they’ll make it up to them at some other point on the trip. Makoto smiles when he almost instantly gets a reply back from Nagisa that reads _that’s okay Haru-chan and Mako-chan, we didn’t mind! Me and Rei-chan had a great date in the meantime! Hopefully you two did tooooo~ ღゝ◡╹)ノ♡_. He’s definitely known something’s been going on since the beginning.

They reach their hotel room after checking in with Amakata-sensei and now they’re trying to settle down for the night. They’ve changed into their pajamas and sit quietly for a few minutes as they do their own thing. Haru sits on the bed next to Makoto, absentmindedly rubbing a towel on his hair to dry it after his quick shower. Meanwhile the brunet shoots a text to his mom, lying that the performance went great and that he can’t wait to see her after the performance in Tokyo. He knows that she’d be extremely upset if she knew what really happened, so he decides to keep it a secret for now. It would only stress her out.

He finishes up what he needs to do on his phone and Haru tosses the damp towel back into the bathroom before climbing into bed again. It’s really not that late, considering it’s summer and they’re both used to staying up late. They know the curfew is only a safety thing but they wish they could’ve stayed out just a little longer.

“Did you want to watch a movie or something?” Makoto asks, picking up the remote from the side table.

“Sure.”

They spend a few minutes looking through the admittedly dreadful selection that the hotel service provides before they settle on a random anime to drone on in the background. Haru doesn’t recognize it but Makoto says that the twins watch it sometimes so he has a vague idea of what’s happening. Their shoulders are pressed together as they lean back comfortably against the headboard. After the kisses they’ve shared today, it’s all Haru can think about. Now that they’re so close in the privacy of their room, it’s as if the air is charged with that specific energy. No doubt that Makoto can feel it too.

Haru can’t stand it anymore. He turns his body towards the taller brunet, grabbing his attention from the tv. “Makoto…” He calls out.

With how close he is to him, he can see Makoto’s blush on his cheeks, even in the dark. “Yeah…?”

“Can we… kiss again?” The violinist asks.

 _Does he even have to ask?_ He thinks though nods anyway.

This kiss is completely different than the ones from earlier. The urge to lose themselves is now coming to the surface since they know they won’t get caught. They’re completely alone, and now’s the best time to take advantage of that. Haru closes the gap this time, pressing his lips against Makoto’s with a sense of urgency. Their faces instinctively tilt to accommodate each other better and the brunet naturally reaches forward to place a hand on Haru’s waist, pressing back into the kiss with just as much passion.

After they’ve explored familiar territory, Haru boldly parts his lips and runs his tongue over the seam of Makoto’s, pleading to take things further. He feels him take a short and quick breath through his nose and after a second, his lips part slowly. At the invitation, Haru slides his tongue into Makoto’s mouth, exploring and trying to find what feels right. Makoto makes a small moan in the back of his throat as he surges forward, the grip on Haru’s waist tightening to pull the violinist closer to him.

They continue for a few minutes, tasting each other and experimenting with what feels good since they’re both new at this. It’s not perfect, their noses bump together a couple times as they try to get better angles and their teeth clack once, but if the breathy moans and sounds their making is anything to go off of, they’re still enjoying it immensely. Like earlier, Haru has threaded his hand into Makoto’s hair, though this time he pulls on it just enough that he feels a sharp pain every now and then. To Makoto’s surprise, he likes it.

Abruptly, Makoto pulls back for a brief moment, gasping for air. They stare at each other, eyes half-lidded and pupils blown from arousal. Without thinking, Haru rises to his knees on the bed and swings one over Makoto’s lap so he’s now straddling the taller boy. This way he can wrap both his arms around Makoto’s neck, bringing their faces together once again. They’re both still panting slightly and the excitement of Haru sitting on top of him like this turns Makoto even more, if that’s even possible.

“Is this okay?” Haru asks for good measure, just to make sure he’s not taking things too quickly.

The brunet quickly nods his head, leaning forward to capture Haru’s lips, making him moan. Makoto pulls back after a minute, starting to trail kisses from Haru’s lips to his jawline and down the column of his neck. With Haru sitting in his lap like this, he knows that the other can feel how hard he is through the thin material of their sleep shorts. It’s exhilarating and he nearly loses his entire train of thought every time Haru shifts on his lap. He lavishes Haru’s neck with bruising kisses, alternating between licking, kissing, sucking, and even biting when he starts to feel bold enough. Distantly, Haru knows that he should have Makoto let up on his neck, because no doubt there are going to be marks. He’s just too lost in the moment to care, instead tilting his head back and to the side as he relishes in the attention.

Makoto never thought he would see anything close to this side of Haru. He’s arguably the most verbal he’s ever heard him be, even if his breathy whines and moans are still extremely quiet. Knowing that he’s the one causing Haru to whimper with need and fist his shirt into his hands like his life depends on it only encourages him. Without thinking, the taller of the two grabs Haru’s hips in a vice grip. He wants to pull Haru down against him so he can get more contact between them, to encourage him to ride on his lap. He even stops the attention he’s giving to Haru’s pale neck, hoping that his hands on his hips can get across the message. Once Haru’s mind catches up to him and he realizes the true situation they’re in, he takes the initiative. Instead of having Makoto pulling him, Haru willingly presses his ass down against Makoto’s hard and aching cock. Both of them release a large breath at the same time at the contact. Makoto has to go back to gently biting at Haru’s shoulder so he can quiet the loud moan that threatened to spill.

Once they begin, it’s hard for them to stop. Haru continues a slow and torturous grind against Makoto’s lap, feeling the brunet lift up to meet him halfway each time. It’s intoxicating, they both feel drunk on each other and they just want release. Haru’s own cock pressed up against Makoto’s muscled stomach is enough to bring him close to the edge.

When Makoto feels his orgasm rapidly creeping up on him, he abruptly stops the rocking motion they’ve established, causing Haru to whine in confused protest. The black-haired boy doesn’t have time to ask what’s wrong, however, because Makoto uses his strength to easily flip them over so that now he’s hovering over Haru’s smaller frame on the bed. The action alone went straight to Haru’s dick, not even realizing he’d like to be manhandled like that. It only reminds him of just how built and strong Makoto really is. It’s something he doesn’t see or think about often and he only truly realized it when they went swimming together.

Makoto props himself up on his elbows so that now he can press his entire body against Haru’s and leans down to engage him in another heated kiss. Haru decides he likes this new position immensely. The violinist runs his hands up and under the hem of Makoto’s simple T-shirt, feeling the strong back muscles that can only develop after years of rigorous swimming. Suddenly, the boy above him is shifting until Haru feels the incredible contact of Makoto’s cock against his own in a slow grind. It feels as if all the air is punched out of his lungs as he breaks the kiss, tossing his head back and letting out an indecent moan. “M-Makoto…!” He calls out, trying to cant his hips up to find more of the incredible pressure. Makoto can’t even form coherent words at the moment so all he can do is grunt in response, repeating the action from before. Haru’s nails dig into the bare skin of his back as his eyes roll back from the sensory overload. Makoto takes a second to appreciate the sight of Haru’s blissful expression, kiss swollen lips, and his soft hair fanned out over the pillow underneath him.

While they are alone, they both have to remember that they are in a hotel room, and that the walls are probably not very thick. With this in mind, the cellist buries his face in Haru’s neck, trying to muffle the sounds of pleasure he’s making as they both continue to rut against each other.

“F-Fuck, H… Haru…!” The rhythm of Makoto’s hips starts to become more erratic as he gets closer to his impending orgasm. They’re both new to this so they knew it wouldn’t last long. They’re torn between slowing down to appreciate the intense pleasure and reaching the climax they both so desperately want.

Haru’s never heard Makoto swear before, since he tried to compose himself as a polite and well-spoken person. The idea that he’s so caught up in the moment that he lets his guard down only fuels Haru’s excitement. He moans in response to the brunet, trying to keep up with the brutal pace Makoto has set for them.

“Haru, I-I’m…” He has to pause for a second as he nearly loses himself before he gets out the warning. “I’m gonna-“

“M-Me too…!” Haru interrupts him, the coiling feeling in his lower abdomen about to snap at any moment.

After a few more hurried thrusts, Makoto suddenly tenses up, his vision turning white as he lets out a loud groan into Haru’s neck. Hearing Makoto lose himself and the few final short thrusts against Haru’s own erection is enough to send him over the edge as well, riding out his orgasm at the same time as Makoto. The pent up energy from the night washes over him in waves and he barely even registers the wet feeling in his shorts as he peaks and starts to come down from the high. Makoto still stays pressed against him, giving the other one final kiss as they descend down from their high together. Eventually, things calm down as they pant to catch their breath and realize just how hot and sweaty they are. Makoto props himself up once again and rolls onto his back next to Haru, staring at the dark ceiling as he tries to ground himself in some sort of reality. Nothing feels real to him at the moment.

No words are spoken between them for a moment, only their breathing and the hum of the air conditioning in the air.

“I hope we didn’t disturb the neighbors…” Haru mumbles after a minute of them basking in their afterglow.

Makoto turns his head to see Haru holding back a smile from his own joke, and it makes the brunet grin and laugh. “Yeah, I hope not either.”

Haru looks at the cellist, feeling his heart swell from seeing him in such a vulnerable position and laughing. He wants this to be his daily experience, lying next to Makoto, maybe just without the sweatiness and drying cum in their shorts.

At that thought, Haru finally sits up on the bed, his head swimming from the movement. He shifts uncomfortably, fully realizing the mistakes of their actions now that it’s too late. “Um, we should probably get cleaned up…”

Makoto takes a second to process what the other says as he too sits up. “O-Oh yeah…” He makes a face that reflects what Haru’s feeling as well. Gross.

A few seconds drag by as they’re unsure of what to do first.

“Um…” The brunet bites his lip, “How… are we going to do laundry?”

Before Haru can ask what he means, it suddenly dawns on him that they’re traveling and they don’t have anywhere to wash their clothes. Shit.

The embarrassment of the situation fully sinks in and Makoto’s face is as red as a tomato. “How did we not think of that? God, this is so stupid, are we going to have to hand wash our clothes?”

Haru shrugs and smirks cheekily. “Next time we’ll just have to remember to not have any clothes on at all.”

“Haru!”

Makoto’s indignant cry makes him laugh quietly as he slips off the bed, heading into the bathroom so he can clean himself up and then think of what to do with their clothes… God, they actually are pretty stupid.

Though as he shuts himself in the bathroom, the warm feeling he’s been feeling since their talk on the bench has returned tenfold, and he really wouldn’t have done anything differently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never written an extended smut scene before, especially in a semi-popular fanfic, so this is extremely embarrassing and I'm sorry if anything sounds super un-sexy. I'm trying to get better.............
> 
> At least I'll have plenty of practice with the future chapters of this fic ;)

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on [Tumblr](http://nagi-chan-san.tumblr.com/)?


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